Blizzard warnings up for Philly, all of New Jersey and Delaware

Blizzard warnings are in effect for the Philly area and all of New Jersey and Delaware Sunday through Monday as a storm forecast to match the intensity of a Category 1 hurricane generates “potentially historic” snowfall amounts, the National Weather Service is warning.

A forecast that looked scary Saturday, got scarier Sunday morning.

Officially, the weather service was calling for 16 to 22 inches in the region, with higher amounts possible and significant coastal flooding at the Shore, where the effects could be the most dramatic. Moderate to major flooding was expected with onshore gusts perhaps exceeding 55 mph.

Gusts of monre than 40 mph are possible inland.

The storm almost is almost certainly will reach “bomb cyclone” status, said Cody Snell, meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md.

“It will very easily qualify,” he said.

Light rain was falling Sunday morning, and temperatures were well above freezing. The rain was due to mix with and change to snow during the afternoon, and fall heavily after dark as temperatures drop.

Computers still were working out details, and amounts are likely to vary. “It’s a tricky forecast,” said Snell.

The track and intensity of the storm that was not expected to ripen off the Southeast coast later in the day will be factors, but so will “banding,” said Snell.

Narrow corridors of heavier snow are likely to form during the night, and areas under the bands are going to receive the highest amounts.

This also will be a “long duration” storm with its effects continuing well into Monday afternoon.

At the outset the snow will be wet, and thus likely to stick on trees and wires. The winds are forecast to peak during the night, raising the possibility of power outages.

The blizzard warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. Monday.

This story will be updated.