Winter storms will blanket the US in snow as cold weather grips the country

CNN
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An already active winter will soon kick into high gear as three storms over the weekend and next week bring snow to the Midwest, the East and possibly as far south as the Gulf Coast.

This is all happening because the coldest air of the season is spreading across most of the United States. The arctic air from Siberia even reaches southern areas that are normally spared from such bitter cold.

The forecasts for two of the three upcoming winter storms are difficult and more uncertain than usual. But the forecast for the first storm is clear.

It will drop a mix of rain and 1 to 3 inches of snow over parts of the Midwest and interior Northeast Saturday before disappearing Sunday morning. It will hit cities like Indianapolis, Detroit and Cleveland on Saturday morning before bringing the same mix of snow and rain to the interior Northeast in the afternoon.

Another, potentially stronger storm will form in the central Appalachians as the last one approaches. It will quickly strengthen and spread wintry snowfall across the mid-Atlantic and into southern New York and southern New England Sunday afternoon. As Sunday progresses, precipitation will spread northward across the rest of New York and New England. Inland locations will see snow, while rain will mix with the snow at times closer to the coast.

Exactly how much snow will pile up on Sunday Particularly in the densely populated and busy Interstate 95 corridor, it depends on how close the storm moves to the coast.

Current forecasts call for the snow to remain just offshore as it moves north through Sunday night, which could bring widespread amounts of 1 to 3 inches of snow from Washington, DC north into New England. Higher amounts of 3 to 6 inches are more likely west of the I-95 corridor.

If the storm moves closer to the coast than currently expected, it could tap into additional moisture and the amount of snow could increase by several inches – even in areas closer to the coast such as New York City and Boston.

By Monday morning the storm will dissipate everywhere except far northern New England. The coldest air of the season and windy conditions will arrive in its wake. From New England to the Southeast, temperatures on Monday will range from 15 to just over 30 degrees below normal, which is already the coldest time of the year.

Temperatures in Washington, DC will drop into the teens Sunday evening and remain stuck in the high 20s on Monday. So whatever snow falls on Sunday, it will remain the coldest Inauguration Day in 40 years. Fresh snow on the ground, bitterly cold air and wind gusts of up to 30 mph at times will produce wind chills (what the air feels like combined with wind) in the single digits throughout the day.

Confidence is growing that winter weather will return to the South next week after snow and ice brought the region to a standstill last week.

This southern storm could develop much further south than the last one. Normally a storm like this would bring rain to the Gulf Coast’s I-10 corridor, but the intense cold spreading across the country will open the door to winter weather there.

A wintry mix could begin in Central Texas as early as Monday evening and increase in coverage and intensity through Tuesday morning. Some snow, sleet and freezing rain could spread east along the I-10 corridor throughout Tuesday and possibly further north into more of the Southeast – possibly including northern Florida – overnight.

Forecast models differ on the location, type and amount of winter precipitation along the Gulf Coast next week. The ECMWF forecast (left) focuses precipitation on the I-10 corridor because it models the storm track further south than the GFS forecast (right). The GFS forecast extends winter precipitation to more of the Southeast.
CNN Weather

Almost every element of the forecast – timing, location, type and intensity of precipitation – is subject to uncertainty and will only be clarified when the forecast models determine the storm’s exact track over the weekend.

It’s hard to overstate how rare snowfall is in the Deep South, especially along the Gulf Coast. Therefore, even a small chance of snow or ice is significant for the region.

Measurable snow has occurred only a dozen times at Hobby Airport in Houston since 1932, eight times since 1948 in New Orleans and eight times in 1940 in Tallahassee, Florida. All three locations have a chance at it next week.