It's been an active month of wintry weather for February and AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter warns of one more major snowstorm that will bring snow and ice to the Midwest and eastern U.S.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This has been a very active February and now, like I said, we're finally tracking the end of what has been a February frenzy, but we're not done just yet.
00:07No, we're not. More snow and ice on the way, more disruptive snow and ice on the way.
00:11And it looks like we're going to be dealing with that from parts of the central United States all the way to the east coast here, Damien, over the coming days.
00:18It's a very interesting setup because we have an area of low pressure in the middle part of the atmosphere of the Great Lakes.
00:25And the actual way in which that storm evolves is going to have a very key role in terms of determining the track of our latest storm system,
00:34which will be developing the southeastern United States and then likely moving to the North Carolina coast.
00:40And instead of coming up the coast, it looks like the storm is going to be directed more east than it is north, which can limit the amounts of snow further to the north.
00:47But it's another significant snowstorm in the mid-Atlantic.
00:52That's right. The depth of that area of low pressure to the south is really going to make the difference between who sees snow, who sees ice and who sees rainfall.
01:00That's correct. You can see the snow developing and it's going to be a big snowstorm across parts of the central U.S.
01:05from portions of Missouri, northwest Arkansas, over toward portions of Oklahoma and also over toward Kansas as well.
01:12And then the storm system is going to pull to the east and that's going to spread snow.
01:16If we can restart that loop one more time, that's going to spread snow right into the Washington, D.C.
01:21area and especially points to the south.
01:23Watch that snow arriving very quickly here as we make our way through later Tuesday night in the first part of Wednesday.
01:30And then that storm, some of that snow will be drawn up the coast.
01:33But notice lesser amounts of snow here from Boston to New York.
01:38But we could have a bit heavier bands of snow setting up on the northwest side of the storm, for example, near the coast.
01:44So Cape Cod to portions of eastern Long Island could stand to get a bit more snow than the big cities.
01:51That's right. This is definitely going to be a prolific snowfall producer.
01:54And here's the latest projection on John, just how much snowfall we're expected to see here from this next snowstorm.
01:59So it looks like the epicenter of the heaviest snow where we'll once again be across parts of the mid-Atlantic,
02:05where we're expecting six to 12 inches of snow south of Washington, D.C.
02:10and over toward the Richmond area in Washington, D.C.
02:13There could be two to four inches of snow on the northern side, an inch or two in Philadelphia.
02:18But notice three to six inches of snow across nearby South Jersey areas.
02:23And then as we make our way up the coast, we're expecting one to three in New York City, about one to three in Boston as well.
02:30But three to six across far parts of far southeast Rhode Island, out toward Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard in Nantucket,
02:37can have higher totals in this type of a situation.
02:41But little to no snow across the interior.
02:44And there will be about an inch or two or three across parts of the Ohio Valley as the storm system pulls to the east as well.
02:52And John, with how tight that gradient is there between what, one inch and six inches to 12 inches?
02:57That's going to be a very tough forecast here.
03:00So if you are in these areas, you definitely need to pay attention to the progression,
03:03because the forecast is going to change here as we head into Wednesday and Thursday.
03:06While we're honing in on those numbers, and you bring up a very important point, there are going to be sharp variations here.
03:12Big changes in the snow totals over short distances.
03:15A great resource to use is our AccuWeather Wintercast.
03:19That's a feature of the AccuWeather app.
03:20It's a free download or on accuweather.com.
03:23And with that tool, you can look at how much snow we're expecting in your backyard and any other city around the world.
03:30And then also the prospects for a little bit more, a little bit less.
03:32As well as great information, too, for your best planning, including when the snow is going to start, when it's going to end.
03:38So that's a valuable resource.
03:40Check with it frequently here in a rapidly changing situation like this.
03:44And south of the snow, Damien, we're talking about an ice concern.
03:48Freezing rain and sleet, perhaps the most significant along portions of central North Carolina near Fayetteville.
03:55Look out, there could be enough freezing rain there to not only make the roads slippery,
04:00but also to potentially produce some localized power outages in that area as well.
04:05So this latest storm system is going to have a little bit of everything.
04:08And as you mentioned, extreme cold to follow this storm.
04:12Actually, life-threatening cold across parts of the central United States for several days this week.
04:17A big cold outbreak.
04:19All right, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, thank you so much for your insight.
04:22We'll definitely be checking in with you as this storm system progresses.
04:26Thanks.