The storm about to bombogenisize, as seen by the GOES-East satellite around 6 p.m.

Via NOAA's Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) is promising $5 JP Licks gift certificates to Boston kids whose parents send him photos of them standing next to the fire hydrants they've dug out after tomorrow's bombocyclopocalypse - just like he's done after other snowstorms over the past few years.

The excitement in Harvey Leonard's voice last night set us on edge. And then we woke up today to the news that Jim Cantore is back in Boston, awaiting the Bomb Cyclone of 2018, and arriving just in time for the National Weather Service to issue both a blizzard warning and a coastal flood warning for much of the North and South shores and a winter-storm warning for the immediate Boston area.

Yesterday, the Washington Post declared the Sunday storm would "maul" New England. Today, Weather Underground says it will "pummel" us. We're beginning to feel woozy - somebody get us some smelling salts.

Yep, a nor'easter's a-brewin' off our coast and will smack into us starting tonight - but don't worry, we're just talking rain here, not snow - although possibly 1 to 2 inches. The National Weather Service concludes:

Bullseye will pass across central and eastern areas, then will shift NE over E coastal areas Sunday morning. May see poor drainage and urban flooding in some normally prone areas.

Why, yes, Eric Fisher did. He's not quite ready to mention the April Fools blizzard, but, you know, we're Bostonians and we don't forget stuff like that so easily. Plus, while he's thinking more rain with a bit of nuisance snow, he adds:

Late March and April storms can be very powerful and dangerous. This time of year, a snowstorm often has heavy wet snow, which causes tree damage and power outages. We don’t want a snowstorm this weekend with temperatures just over 32 degrees. That would mean a lot of problems.

Roving UHub photographer Ynckay spotted this boat lying on Short Beach in Winthrop this morning.

As we've been breathlessly reporting all day, some local TV stations have waged a relentless battle today to see who could get the most on-air personnel on a screen at one time. Channel 7 threw down the opening gauntlet with an "8-box" (i.e., 8 reporters in little boxes at once), Channel 25 briefly got in the action with a 9-box, but then Channel 7 knocked them out with an 11-box - before Channel 5 topped them with a 12-box. Channel 7 caught up, but now it really looks like WCVB is determined to end this thing once and for all: Around 5 p.m., Channel 5 Executive Producer Scott Isaacs posted this screen capture of a screen-dominating 16-box display.