Intense Midwest Cold Will Have Less Impact on East Coast

Thursday morning

The south to southwesterly flow of mild air now in the Eastern states will be replaced by chilly winds later tomorrow and tomorrow night. However, the drop in temperature will not be as sharp or as deep as it has been in the Midwest. At Moline, Ill., it was 54 degrees at 5:05 p.m. CT yesterday, then dropped to 18 degrees at 7:09 CT this morning. This video shows the expected sequence of weather events for the Great Lakes and Northeast between today and early next week.

In the I-95 corridor. the cold front should arrive tomorrow, and temperatures will start dropping. There are two main bands of rain along and behind the cold front. The first one will cause spotty showers tomorrow while it is still mild. The second one will affect areas from the upper Ohio Valley to the East Coast tomorrow night. In the western portion of this precipitation area, the trend to colder weather will be well established by the time precipitation gets underway. Roads are likely to become slippery and snowy. In the I-95 corridor, however, it appears the main rain area will move through before it gets cold enough to snow. No widespread accumulations or extensive travel troubles seem likely.

After the cold front moves south and stalls, a low pressure area will move northeastward along it. It seems precipitation from that storm will arrive in places from northern Virginia to southern New England before it gets warm enough for just rain. That could lead to tough travel at the end of the weekend. This map for Sunday at 7 p.m. ET shows where those troubles could be (north of the line with the label "snow rain line.")