New cross-country storm to unleash host of weather hazards
By Todd EppFeb 2, 2021 | 3:23 PM
AccuWeather map, 2/2/21.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — A new storm will bring a host of hazards as it crosses the country — and it will also pave the way for blasts of Arctic air to invade the central United States. The system will trigger snow and blizzard conditions on its northern edge and rain and localized severe thunderstorms to the south late this week.
Part of the same storm that unleashed drenching coastal rain and heavy mountain snow in the Northwest over the weekend will push inland across the Rockies Tuesday night and Wednesday. As the storm shifts eastward, it is forecast to drop snow on the interior West. Accumulations will range from a few inches to a foot in parts of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
However, as the storm pushes east of the Rockies, forecasters expect it to strengthen and cause a slew of different hazards as it does so.
A developing cold front associated with the storm will produce drenching rain across portions of the middle Mississippi Valley late Wednesday into Thursday. The area of heavy rain will continue to spread eastward on Thursday and Thursday night.
“Where this rain falls on areas with snow cover, from perhaps as far west as southern Iowa to the northern and central portions of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to possibly the southern tier of Michigan and southwestern Pennsylvania and portions of West Virginia, there will be a risk of urban flooding from fast-melting snow,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
The action of milder, moist air flowing over snow cover and cold ground can cause extensive foggy conditions that could add to the travel hazards and reduce the visibility for motorists.
As has been the case with most storms since the middle of January, locally heavy and gusty thunderstorms are likely to erupt within the warm portion of the storm system. AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring the potential for isolated severe thunderstorms in portions of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys as the storm system progresses eastward on Thursday and Thursday night.
On the storm’s colder northern side, snow is forecast to fall and cause headaches for motorists.
“From portions of Minnesota and northern Iowa, eastward to Wisconsin and central and northern Michigan, a light to moderate amount of snow is possible and will overlap some areas that were hit with moderate to heavy snow from the storm this past weekend,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
A lone man looks out at the partially frozen Lake Michigan Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, as snow fell during day two of a winter storm in the greater Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Motorists should be prepared for changing and adverse weather conditions along of interstates 80, 90 and 94 during the latter half of this week. Forecasters warn that several hundred miles of these interstates will be affected by the storm’s wintry conditions.
Snowfall totals will generally be limited to several inches or less due to the storm’s steady forward movement. However, Minneapolis is among the list of cities forecast to pick up enough snow to shovel and plow from the storm on Thursday.
A zone where 6-12 inches of snow is forecast to fall currently extends from the Arrowhead of Minnesota, eastward through northern Michigan.
“No doubt, Lake Superior will help to enhance the snow in this part of the Upper Midwest and where lake-effect snow ramps up Friday, an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 30 inches is forecast through the afternoon hours,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
More snow will pile up and expand southeastward throughout the Great Lakes region as lake-effect ramps up later Friday through this weekend.
Around Chicago, rain or a wintry mix that can make roads wet to slushy is forecast for the daytime hours on Thursday. However, as colder air moves in and catches up with the moisture, a period of snow is in store for Thursday evening. Falling temperatures and snow are likely to make for a slippery commute home.
The same storm is forecast to spread a swath of rain, wintry mix and snow into the Appalachians, mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday. All or mostly rain will fall from New York City to Washington, D.C., on south.
A wintry mix may transition to snow in parts of West Virginia, western and northern Pennsylvania and central New England with all or mostly snow farther to the northwest on Friday. Motorists should be prepared for wintry travel along and north of Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and just west of I-81 in Virginia.
As the storm intensifies, the circulation around the center of the storm is likely to generate a period of strong winds. A zone of strong winds combined with the tail end of the snowfall on the storm’s northwestern flank can lead to blizzard conditions in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and perhaps the eastern portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska. Ground blizzards can occur even where there is little snow on the ground.
“Around the Great Lakes, gusts between 50 and 60 mph will progress eastward in response to the rapidly strengthening storm,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
“The high winds can lead to lakeshore flooding along the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan during the day Friday and the northeastern shoreline of lakes Erie and Ontario during Friday afternoon and evening,” Rossio explained.
Strengthening of this storm will usher in waves of Arctic air that are forecast to thrust southeastward along the Plains and eastern slopes of the Rockies starting on Thursday to part of the Mississippi Valley from Friday through this weekend.
The Arctic air will not only increase heating demands. It will also turn cold enough to make it painful to be outdoors and pose a risk of frostbite and hypothermia for those not properly dressed.
The first wave of cold air associated with the system will drop temperatures by 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit from Wednesday to Thursday over the northern and central Plains and from Thursday to Friday over the southern Plains and Midwest.
A second surge of Arctic air is forecast to follow 36-48 hours later and could rival the coldest air of the season so far. The second blast of frigid air is likely to advance deep into the South Central states and across the eastern third of the nation.
For example, after a high near 40 on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, temperatures are forecast to fall into the 20s on Thursday. Following a high in the lower to middle 20s on Friday, highs both days of the weekend are projected to be in the single digits with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures generally 15-25 degrees lower than the actual temperature. The city’s coldest reading so far this winter was zero F on Jan. 28. Temperatures are forecast to dip several degrees below zero in central Iowa at night this weekend into early next week.
Temperatures across portions of North Dakota and Minnesota may not even nudge above zero this weekend.
The waves of Arctic air will produce a rapid freeze-up late this week across the Plains to this weekend over portions of the central and eastern Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. Any areas of standing water and slush will freeze solid. The freeze-up is likely to occur around Chicago on Thursday night and Detroit on Friday morning.
Because of this it is essential for crews and property owners to remove as much snow from streets, parking lots and sidewalks as there is the risk of the remaining packed down snow to become very difficult to remove once the Arctic air moves in.
The cold air that takes root over the North Central states this weekend will be dangerous for young children, the elderly and those with respiratory or cardiovascular issues.
As the Arctic air races across the Great Lakes region from Friday through this weekend, bands of heavy lake-effect snow and snow squalls are anticipated with locally very heavy snowfall amounts likely.
There is some indication that a storm may try to form and rapidly strengthen as the front pushes through the Appalachians and to along the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. The track of this storm has yet to be determined. However, there is the potential for a swath of heavy snow to develop as the Arctic air arrives.
(Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, contributed this report.)
Part of the same storm that unleashed drenching coastal rain and heavy mountain snow in the Northwest over the weekend will push inland across the Rockies Tuesday night and Wednesday. As the storm shifts eastward, it is forecast to drop snow on the interior West. Accumulations will range from a few inches to a foot in parts of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
A developing cold front associated with the storm will produce drenching rain across portions of the middle Mississippi Valley late Wednesday into Thursday. The area of heavy rain will continue to spread eastward on Thursday and Thursday night.
“Where this rain falls on areas with snow cover, from perhaps as far west as southern Iowa to the northern and central portions of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to possibly the southern tier of Michigan and southwestern Pennsylvania and portions of West Virginia, there will be a risk of urban flooding from fast-melting snow,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
As has been the case with most storms since the middle of January, locally heavy and gusty thunderstorms are likely to erupt within the warm portion of the storm system. AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring the potential for isolated severe thunderstorms in portions of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys as the storm system progresses eastward on Thursday and Thursday night.
On the storm’s colder northern side, snow is forecast to fall and cause headaches for motorists.
“From portions of Minnesota and northern Iowa, eastward to Wisconsin and central and northern Michigan, a light to moderate amount of snow is possible and will overlap some areas that were hit with moderate to heavy snow from the storm this past weekend,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
A lone man looks out at the partially frozen Lake Michigan Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, as snow fell during day two of a winter storm in the greater Chicago area. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Motorists should be prepared for changing and adverse weather conditions along of interstates 80, 90 and 94 during the latter half of this week. Forecasters warn that several hundred miles of these interstates will be affected by the storm’s wintry conditions.
Snowfall totals will generally be limited to several inches or less due to the storm’s steady forward movement. However, Minneapolis is among the list of cities forecast to pick up enough snow to shovel and plow from the storm on Thursday.
A zone where 6-12 inches of snow is forecast to fall currently extends from the Arrowhead of Minnesota, eastward through northern Michigan.
“No doubt, Lake Superior will help to enhance the snow in this part of the Upper Midwest and where lake-effect snow ramps up Friday, an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 30 inches is forecast through the afternoon hours,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
More snow will pile up and expand southeastward throughout the Great Lakes region as lake-effect ramps up later Friday through this weekend.
Around Chicago, rain or a wintry mix that can make roads wet to slushy is forecast for the daytime hours on Thursday. However, as colder air moves in and catches up with the moisture, a period of snow is in store for Thursday evening. Falling temperatures and snow are likely to make for a slippery commute home.
The same storm is forecast to spread a swath of rain, wintry mix and snow into the Appalachians, mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday. All or mostly rain will fall from New York City to Washington, D.C., on south.
A wintry mix may transition to snow in parts of West Virginia, western and northern Pennsylvania and central New England with all or mostly snow farther to the northwest on Friday. Motorists should be prepared for wintry travel along and north of Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and just west of I-81 in Virginia.
As the storm intensifies, the circulation around the center of the storm is likely to generate a period of strong winds. A zone of strong winds combined with the tail end of the snowfall on the storm’s northwestern flank can lead to blizzard conditions in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and perhaps the eastern portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska. Ground blizzards can occur even where there is little snow on the ground.
“Around the Great Lakes, gusts between 50 and 60 mph will progress eastward in response to the rapidly strengthening storm,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
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“The high winds can lead to lakeshore flooding along the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan during the day Friday and the northeastern shoreline of lakes Erie and Ontario during Friday afternoon and evening,” Rossio explained.
Strengthening of this storm will usher in waves of Arctic air that are forecast to thrust southeastward along the Plains and eastern slopes of the Rockies starting on Thursday to part of the Mississippi Valley from Friday through this weekend.
The Arctic air will not only increase heating demands. It will also turn cold enough to make it painful to be outdoors and pose a risk of frostbite and hypothermia for those not properly dressed.
The first wave of cold air associated with the system will drop temperatures by 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit from Wednesday to Thursday over the northern and central Plains and from Thursday to Friday over the southern Plains and Midwest.
A second surge of Arctic air is forecast to follow 36-48 hours later and could rival the coldest air of the season so far. The second blast of frigid air is likely to advance deep into the South Central states and across the eastern third of the nation.
For example, after a high near 40 on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, temperatures are forecast to fall into the 20s on Thursday. Following a high in the lower to middle 20s on Friday, highs both days of the weekend are projected to be in the single digits with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures generally 15-25 degrees lower than the actual temperature. The city’s coldest reading so far this winter was zero F on Jan. 28. Temperatures are forecast to dip several degrees below zero in central Iowa at night this weekend into early next week.
Temperatures across portions of North Dakota and Minnesota may not even nudge above zero this weekend.
The waves of Arctic air will produce a rapid freeze-up late this week across the Plains to this weekend over portions of the central and eastern Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. Any areas of standing water and slush will freeze solid. The freeze-up is likely to occur around Chicago on Thursday night and Detroit on Friday morning.
Because of this it is essential for crews and property owners to remove as much snow from streets, parking lots and sidewalks as there is the risk of the remaining packed down snow to become very difficult to remove once the Arctic air moves in.
The cold air that takes root over the North Central states this weekend will be dangerous for young children, the elderly and those with respiratory or cardiovascular issues.
As the Arctic air races across the Great Lakes region from Friday through this weekend, bands of heavy lake-effect snow and snow squalls are anticipated with locally very heavy snowfall amounts likely.
There is some indication that a storm may try to form and rapidly strengthen as the front pushes through the Appalachians and to along the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. The track of this storm has yet to be determined. However, there is the potential for a swath of heavy snow to develop as the Arctic air arrives.
(Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, contributed this report.)