Winter storm to dish out another helping of snow to northern US

The same storm that brought a general 3-6 inches of snow to part of the Upper Midwest on Monday was finishing up its wintry task over the northern tier of the Northeast and adjacent Canada on Tuesday.

"The storm is following in the footsteps of many other storms this winter," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

"We have had probably close to a dozen or so storms that have traveled from the south-central United States to the Great Lakes and southeastern Canada," he explained. "There have been practically no storms that have taken the northward path along the Atlantic coast."

A track along the East Coast can be mean a big snowstorm for the mid-Atlantic, southern New England and the central Appalachians.

The storm will intensify as it stretches over the northern Great Lakes and moves into southern Ontario and Quebec, leading to higher snowfall totals.

A swath of 6-12 inches (15-30 centimeters) of snow is forecast from central Ontario to part of southern Quebec and the higher terrain of northwestern Maine and the Adirondacks of New York state. In general, from 3 to 6 inches of snow will fall from parts of northern Michigan to northern New England.

This is more than enough snow to cause slippery road conditions, and perhaps even lead to school delays or early dismissals.

An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches (40 centimeters) of snow is most likely to occur within the 6- to 12-inch band across central Ontario and southern Quebec.

Enough snow will fall in Ottawa and Montreal to make roads slippery.

Snow-related travel disruptions will be most likely in cities like Burlington, Vermont and many others across interior New England, both on the roads and in the air.

(Photo/@averagerunnerk).

Meanwhile, those hopeful for snow across the mid-Atlantic, southern New England and the central Appalachians will be far from the top dog in terms of snowfall from the storm and most of this swath may not even receive a snowflake.

Cities like Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, are running well below their average snowfall, totaling 11 inches or less since Dec. 1.

Instead, these areas will be receiving another dose of rain showers which will extend southward into the flood-ravaged Deep South.

Behind both the snow and the rain farther south, cold air is expected to sweep into this region by the middle of the week. The rapid drop in temperature could lead to areas of black ice in lingering wet areas and help to keep any snow that falls around longer.

Lake-effect snow and isolated snow squalls will accompany the push of cold air behind the storm.

This likely will be the only way parts of the central Appalachians get any accumulation of snow or see some snowflakes this week.

As cold air enters the South, it will catch up with a trailing storm and is forecast to produce a swath of mixed snow and rain and even accumulating snow in some locations.

It could end up that places in North Carolina, outside of the mountains end up with more snow from this storm than for the entire season in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The storm may serve as an example that one late-season storm can bring snowfall to near-average for the season in places such as the South and the coastal Northeast.

"While there may not be any snowstorms in the mid-Atlantic before the end of February, March can still be a tough month even following a mild winter," Sosnowski said.

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