United States

The same storms that hit the South and Midwest over the weekend will come together in the Northeast tonight into Wednesday, producing a broad-scale, very disruptive snowstorm and a blizzard in part of the region.

The snowfall, which will be the heaviest from New Jersey up through southeastern New England, will lead to school closings, major travel problems and even a daycare crisis over much of the Northeast.

Along Interstate 95, from Philadelphia through New York City, this will be a major snowstorm, but probably not an all-out blizzard. However, it will be worse than this past Friday-Saturday snow event.

In Philadelphia, from 4 to 8 inches of snow is forecast. in the New York metropolitan area 6 to 12 inches of snow is expected. From Hartford and Providence up through Boston and Portsmouth, there is the potential for 18 inches.

To view a larger version of this map, visit the AccuWeather.com Winter Weather Center.

The worst conditions and an old-fashioned, screaming nor'easter are aiming for southeastern New England, from central Connecticut to coastal Maine.

Winds will kick up as the storm finally strengthens, creating a blizzard for part of New England that remains all snow, as Meghan Evans discussed this past weekend. A change to rain will curtail blowing and drifting snow on Cape Cod and the Islands.

Strong winds with frequent gusts to 40 mph over central and southeastern New England could lead to power outages. The strongest gusts, perhaps topping 50 mph, will occur on the Cape.

From the slot from Philadelphia to New York City, the storm will move too fast to equal the amounts produced by the Christmas Weekend Blizzard. However, the storm will still challenge road crews to keep up for a time. People on the road at the height of the storm will run the risk of getting stuck.

The worst of the storm would be Tuesday night in the Philadelphia to New York City slot with New England bearing the brunt mostly during Wednesday.

Because there is also the feature coming in from the Midwest, plowable snow will fall over much of the area from the Ohio Valley states to the central Appalachians, parts of the mid-Atlantic and northern New England.

Cities away from the coast that appear to be in line for a 3- to 6-inch snowfall include Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Scranton, Allentown, Reading, Wilmington, Dover, Charleston,

Binghamton, Syracuse, Elmira, Rutland and Augusta.

Snow slows down the morning commute into Charlotte, N.C. Monday, January 10. 2011. Photo by AccuWeather.com Facebook fan Aaron L.

The lowest amounts from the storm will occur in northern New England and over the southern mid-Atlantic. Even so a couple of inches of snow in the Washington/Baltimore area will lead to deteriorating travel during the day Tuesday.

In the wake of the storm, it will be very cold. High temperatures will be in the teens and 20s in the Appalachians and in the 20s to near 30 for days. As a result, very little of the snow will melt naturally.

In the south, where temperatures will be slightly higher. Melting during the day will lead to a freeze-up at night through the week.