Upcoming December warming trend to include storms in eastern US
More weather changes are coming soon to the eastern half of the United States even as cold Arctic winds and even snow swirls in some locations into this weekend. The warming trend will be accompanied by storms, however.
AccuWeather’s Long Range Expert Joe Lundberg looks ahead to this week, which could bring a midweek storm that produces rain and snow in much of the eastern U.S.
The clock is already ticking on the latest blast of Arctic air. However, the road to the warming trend that follows will be bumpy and strewn with multiple storms—some of which will bring snow and ice rather than rain for some locations, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
After a January-like cold start to the weekend in the East, temperatures will gradually climb into the first part of this week.
Temperatures will trend upward through the 40s in New York City. Highs in Washington, D.C., will go from the mid-40s on Saturday to potentially 60 F on Sunday. Farther west, highs in the mid-40s on Saturday will be followed by highs near 50 on Sunday in Chicago. In the South, temperatures will rebound into the 60s in places such as Atlanta this weekend on Sunday.
There will be a bit of trouble as the warmup begins across part of the northern tier, however.
A clipper-style storm will drop southeastward from central Canada to southern Ontario on Saturday and then northern New England on Sunday, AccuWeather Meteorologist Grady Gilman said.
"This fast-moving storm will have enough moisture to squeeze out a general 1-3 inches of snow from northwest Ontario to northern New York and northern New England, with local amounts of 6-12 inches, including over some of the mountains," Gilman said.
There is an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ snowfall of 20 inches for this storm over the ridges of the Adirondack, Green, and White Mountains.
On the southern edge of the snow will be some rain, sleet and freezing rain from parts of northern Michigan to the northern tier of Pennsylvania, the lower Hudson Valley and southern New England, Gilman added.
South of the storm track, the milder air will have little trouble moving in. The milder air will eventually get into central and northern New England later this weekend to early this week. On Monday, highs will be into the 40s in Boston.
The next storm will not drop southward from Canada but swing up from the southern Plains and the Gulf of Mexico.
With milder air in front of the storm, most precipitation will fall in the form of rain, AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
"Exceptions will be the northern tier of the Northeast, where just enough chilly air will linger on the backside of the clipper storm to cause some trouble in the form of a mixture of snow, ice and rain," Pastelok stated.
Because of the snow cover or the cold ground from the recent waves of Arctic air, the storm's moisture will lead to areas of fog. It's the same process that leads to mist that exits the freezer door on a warm and humid day. The combination of rain and fog can slow travel.
While not enough rain is likely to fall where there is deep snow on the ground to cause the snow cover to liquefy and result in major flooding, the upcoming thaw and a bit of rain can lead to ponding on streets and highways where piles of snow are blocking storm drains. Another concern will be the added weight of the rain that the snow will capture. This can stress some roofs to the point of failure.
Enough rain may fall in parts of the East to trigger localized urban flooding even where there is no snow on the ground.
There will be additional storms this week.
As mild air continues to flow northward along the Atlantic coast, chillier air will ooze southward once again over the Central states. This west-to-east temperature contrast zone will set up a south-to-north storm track somewhere from the Appalachians to the Atlantic coast.
Depending on the storm track, storm intensity and the push of cold air, there is at least a chance of a stripe of accumulating snow in the zone from the Appalachians to perhaps parts of the Tennessee Valley and the Midwest with the storm on Wednesday, Pastelok said.
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