Snow Storm #8: Gravity Wave

Tony Wood reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer...

"Just before midnight Sunday, meteorologists said, a band of rapidly rising air - part of what is known as a "gravity wave" - developed in the upper atmosphere from eastern Virginia into eastern New Jersey. And this was a particularly potent one.

"For the next few hours, it generated heavy snow in South Jersey, with 10.5 inches in Hammonton by daybreak, and powerful wind gusts of 60 m.p.h. in Atlantic City and 59 m.p.h. in Cape May.

"Meanwhile, the wave temporarily would shut off snow to areas to the west, said Louis W. Uccellini, director of the National Center for Environmental Prediction..."