Winter storm to blast 95 million in northeastern US with heavy snow, ice and rain
A major storm is poised to unload a foot of snow across the Northeast's interior, while a combination of rain, snow and a wintry mix lead to travel delays from the southern Appalachians to the southern New England coast from Sunday to Monday.
The wintry storm will affect approximately 95 million people in the northeastern part of the United States. Expect substantial travel delays, including some flight cancellations. Some schools that were scheduled to be open on Monday may have delays or closures.
Snow and a wintry mix will overspread the central Appalachians during Sunday morning and early afternoon.
By Sunday evening the snow, wintry mix and rain will have reached the mid-Atlantic coast, while snow is forecast to overspread the Hudson Valley of New York.
A swath of 6-12 inches of snow with locally higher amounts is forecast to extend from the northern Ohio Valley to western and northern Pennsylvania, the middle of New York state and northwestern New England with this fast-moving storm.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches is expected and most likely to occur over the mountains. However, the fast, forward speed of the storm should cap the snowfall to near a foot in most areas in the heavy snow swath.
Like part of the Midwest, the snow may pile up fast enough to strand motorists along the major highway. The snow may fall at the rate of 1-2 inches per hour.
The combination of the storm track and strength and proximity of mild air is expected to cause rain or a mix of rain, sleet and snow to fall during the height of the storm along the Intestate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
The storm may begin and end as all snow in this I-95 zone and perhaps switch back and forth at the height of the storm. As a result periods of slippery travel are expected.
Farther northwest, perhaps as little as 25 miles, most of or all of the storm may fall as snow with perhaps 6 inches or more.
All or mostly rain is likely from southern New Jersey to central North Carolina. However, following rain during the first part of the storm, a change to snow and a freeze-up are likely over the southern Appalachians as the storm begins to move away during Sunday night.
Meanwhile, in part of the Deep South, thunderstorms may become severe for a time on Sunday.
There is a chance the storm remains a bit weaker tracks a bit farther to the south and east. If this happens by as little as 25-50 miles, the band of heavy snow would shift southeastward by about the same distance and bring the 6- to 12-inch snowfall to the I-95 corridor.
Snow would fall over central Virginia, southeastern Maryland, southern Delaware and southern New Jersey in this scenario. Less snow would then fall over the current 6- to 12-inch swath from western Pennsylvania to Maine.
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Arctic air will blast in behind the storm
As a lobe of the polar vortex wobbles toward the Great Lakes region in the wake of the storm, a formidable dose of Arctic air will blast in from the Midwest early next week.
Areas of slush and standing water will freeze solid. The effectiveness of ice-melting compounds will be greatly reduced during the nighttime and early-morning hours in the wake of the storm. All efforts to remove the snow as fast as possible in the storm's wake for property owners and city, township and state crews.
While winds will not be nearly a strong as that of the start of this week, the air will be colder.
Temperatures are forecast to dip to 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit below average and are likely be be even colder than that of average for January in many cases.
High temperatures are forecast to be near 20 in Pittsburgh and in the upper 20s to lower 30s in New York City. Even Washington, D.C., may struggle to reach the freezing mark, 32 F, despite sunshine at midweek.
The combination of blustery conditions and Arctic air will make for painful to dangerous AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures during much of the first full week of March.
Those heading south for spring break during the upcoming week should feel fortunate, and should be worth the while of weathering the departure delays from the storm this weekend.
However, some chill will settle through the Deep South and mark an end to well-above-average warmth from the past month over the Florida Peninsula.
By the second week of March, temperatures more typical of this time of the year are in store as a west-to-east flow of air will set up across the U.S., which will keep the coldest air locked up over Canada most days.
That does not necessarily mean the end of opportunities for snow, as the upper levels of the atmosphere are typically cold enough for the white stuff, even though temperatures near the ground may be above freezing.
