Blizzard Warning | Connecticut Weather 6 AM

Good morning! I'm Aaron Jolly. And welcome to the Connecticut Weather Podcast. It's Monday, February 23rd.. And folks, this is the real deal. Two and a half inches already on the ground. That's just the appetizer. From 5 A.M. Through 6 P.M. Today, a full blown blizzard buries the state. The National Weather Service is calling this life threatening. Not a phrase they throw around lightly. Eastern Connecticut takes the worst of it. You're looking at 10 to 16 more inches on top of what's fallen. Winds howl northeast at 33 miles an hour, gusting to 51. That creates whiteout conditions, especially before noon. Visibility drops to a quarter mile. Tonight lows hit 20 degrees, feeling like 11. Slide west into the central corridor. Another 3 to 7 inches pile up before snow tapers off around 5 P.M. Gusts still reach 49 miles an hour. Wind shifts northwest by 8 P.M. But keeps hammering. Overnight? 18 degrees, wind chill of 9. Along the coast, you've got a double threat. Snow totals of 9 to 13 inches plus coastal flooding risk. Gusts to 51 miles an hour. Snow wraps up by 6 P.M. But blowing snow and black ice make roads treacherous well into tonight. Lows near 20 degrees, feeling like 10. Here's what scares me most. Heavy wet snow plus those gusts could snap trees and drop power lines, especially out east. If you lose power, have a plan. This could last days. Looking ahead, Tuesday brings sunshine but brutal cold. Highs barely crack the upper 20s. Overnight lows plunge to single digits. Wednesday a clipper drops 1 to 2 inches of light snow with highs rebounding near 40 degrees. Thursday gets messy with rain and snow mixing. But Saturday.. Finally. Mid 40s and sunshine. If you're thinking about driving today, don't. Seriously. Stay home. Charge your phones, fill some water jugs. And keep flashlights handy. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow. Take care!