Potentially Historic Nor'easter Is A Two-Pronged Monster

A historic winter storm is expected to pound the Northeast in the coming day.

What makes this storm so severe?

Wunderground's meteorologist Shaun Tanner says that the storm system is really the combination of two different storms.

A cold weather system coming out of the Midwest Thursday is expected to merge with a second storm moving up the Eastern half of the United States. The two storms are supposed to marry late Friday, bringing heavy snow and winds gusts of up to 75 mph.

"As much as one to two feet of snow is forecast from the New York City metro area to Maine, with localized heavier amounts possible," according the latest alert from the National Weather Service.

Massachusetts, including Boston, into northeast Connecticut and up into Maine, will see the heaviest snow amounts, according to the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). But New Yorkers should also prepare for up to one foot of snow.

The snow is expected to begin Friday morning in southern New England, including Boston and northeast Connecticut. Heavy rain could change over to heavy snow along the southern New England Coast by Friday night and continue into Saturday morning.

A reader sent along the latest snowfall prediction map from the NCEP, via Weatherbell:

Weatherbell