How to track every move of the East Coast blizzard

 By 
Kellen Beck
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The first big winter storm of the year is making it's way up the East Coast, moving in on Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region, bringing with it up to 30 inches of snow.

Whether you're in the areas that might be directly affected or not, all eyes are on the East Coast blizzard -- or what some are calling Snowzilla.

Here are the best ways to watch society tussle with mother nature from the safety of your nice, warm bed.

Mashable's live blog

Mashable is tracking all major developments of the storm in our live blog, with updates about the blizzard itself -- where it is, how it's changing -- to predictions on when and how it will hit regions as it moves north.

Weather apps

Weather Underground -- Free for Android and iOS

Weather Underground offers extensive data and some analysis of upcoming weather conditions, including wind speed and directions, expected rain and snow as well as, of course, temperature. Weather Underground also offers a bird’s-eye radar view of weather conditions.

The service even has a specific Storm app specifically built for tracking developing storms with radar and real-time weather alerts.

RadarScope -- $9.99 for Android and iOS

If you want to track the storm, RadarScope gives extremely detailed weather updates and weather analysis that helps weather geeks track weather across U.S. territories and Canada. The radars update every 3-10 minutes and the app gives weather warnings in effect throughout the country. RadarScope is for very advanced weather watchers. RadarScope is also by far the best app to track thundersnow, because it shows lightning strikes.

mPing -- Free for Android and iOS

MPing is a crowd-sourcing weather app from the National Severe Storms Laboratory. You can check out what people are reporting for weather around the world, and even contribute yourself.

SnowCast -- $2.99 for iOS.

SnowCast gives you detailed info on how much snow is heading to your exact location. You can see info for the next six hours, 12 hours and over to the next 48 hours, in six-hour windows.

The Weather Channel -- Free for Android and iOS

The Weather Channel app gives all the weather forecasts and information you've come to expect. If you're looking for simple, this is the app.

WeatherBug -- Free for Android and iOS

WeatherBug provides basic weather information along with weather radars, extreme weather warnings and weather cams from around the U.S.

Live camera feeds

Keep an eye on what's going on in the major cities that will be affected by the storm with live video feeds.

Washington, D.C., has several cameras to choose from, though the blizzard recently claimed the Washington Monument's cam.

New York City has cameras all over Manhattan for your viewing pleasure.

Boston has one live feed viewing the city form across the Charles River.

Philadelphia doesn't have live video but it does have photos that update periodically.

Brigantine, New Jersey has a live storm surge camera set up on the coast.

People to follow on Twitter

There are a ton of Twitter accounts to follow to get real-time updates and opinions on the incoming weather, but we’ve highlighted a few that you should add to your timeline. They range from writers to meteorologists to news services, and while they’re serious about weather, some sprinkle in a little bit of humor as well.

Andrew Freedman, Mashable's science editor

Keep in mind snow lovers, NYC will still be along northern edge of heavy snow. Lot can go wrong with this fcst. But more confidence now.

— Andrew Freedman (@afreedma) January 22, 2016

Capital Weather Gang is D.C.-focused in addition to worldwide weather news from Washington Post

We hereby name this winter storm #Snowzilla https://t.co/hMYcbmGY5u pic.twitter.com/WIApxksXOn — Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 22, 2016

Brian L. Kahn, senior writer at Climate Central and WXshift

You don't have to be on the East Coast to feel the impacts of this weekend's storm https://t.co/sYanZzSeX3

— Brian L Kahn (@blkahn) January 22, 2016

Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist at CBS Boston

Blizzard = 3 consecutive hours or more of winds above/frequently gusting past 35mph, and visibility less than a quarter of a mile. — Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) January 22, 2016

National Weather Service

NWS of Mount Holly, New Jersey

NWS of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore

NWS of New York City

1545 UTC Geocolor satellite image w/ developing #WinterStorm over SE US, heading for Mid-Atlantic region. #GRPG pic.twitter.com/rkwIZGtOyY

— NWS OPC (@NWSOPC) January 22, 2016

Jeff Frame, teaches at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

So here are the results from our class forecasting exercise this morning. pic.twitter.com/b1gBGa0zDP — Jeff Frame (@VORTEXJeff) January 22, 2016

James Span, AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and host of WeatherBrains

 

Snow continues along the I-65 corridor. Roads are just wet; no travel issues now. Icy spots possible tonight pic.twitter.com/ZOByOqRKKE

— James Spann (@spann) January 22, 2016

Ryan Maue, digital meteorologist

82 million to see at least inch of snow #blizzard2016 63M --> 3" 47M --> 6" 22M --> 12" 6M --> 24" Lucky 29K --> 30" pic.twitter.com/7lkiknMbmi — Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) January 22, 2016

Social media hashtags

People who are documenting their photos and tweets are tagging them with a couple different hashtags. #blizzard2016 is the highest trending one on Twitter, but a few others include #snowmaggedon2016, #snowzilla and #snowzilla2016.

We got our snow here in Nashville! #snowmaggedon2016 pic.twitter.com/8ivylf6i9T

— The Darlins (@thedarlinsmusic) January 22, 2016

When you finally realize that the snow will be here tomorrow. #snowmaggedon2016 #winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/AP7lYf8D99 — Oxford Police Dept (@OxfordPolice) January 22, 2016

Mark the time! The first flakes of #Snowzilla are falling in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/Zn5etp6MYL

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 22, 2016

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