Models on Ice Situation for Midwest, NE

As of this AM, no advisories have been issued by the government yet, and no official forecast maps are available from AccuWeather yet, but I think we really have to monitor the possibility of ice in the Midwest and Northeast this weekend. The major Forecast Models [JessePedia] are all predicting a narrow swatch of freezing rain starting in the Midwest Sunday morning, widening over the Appalachians Sunday afternoon, and narrowing again to exit over southern New England Sunday night.

Now, the question is: What will the temperatures be? If it's 32 degrees and rain is freezing on grass and trees but not the road, this will not be as big of a deal for travel, and hopefully the short duration and coverage area will not majorly disrupt power). On the other hand, if it's 25, this could be a big travel problem.

How will you know? Watch Your AccuPOP for ice chances, and check your AccuWeather.com forecast for temperatures. Here in State College, PA, we're predicting a significant chance of freezing rain on Sunday and the temperature will be near freezing only for a few hours, indicating that the onset and perhaps exit of the precipitation will be the problem times for travel.

(The screenshot above is from AccuWeather.com Planner which helps you visualize AccuPOP and the AccuWeather.com forecast).

This possible ice situation is in addition to this weekend's storm, which may bring a few inches of snow to parts of New England Sunday, and is being covered well in our our Weather Headlines (PREMIUM | PRO) and Breaking Weather News Page (PREMIUM | PRO).