Quick-hitting snow to sweep through midwestern, northeastern US at late week

A narrow swath of hazardous travel conditions will unfold as snow streaks from the northern Plains to the Midwest and Northeast spanning Thursday and Friday.

The storm will be similar in nature to the one that swept through at the start of the week, which brought snowfall totals of 4-8 inches to a narrow corridor of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Chicago was on the northern fringe of heaviest snow, with 2.2 inches reported at O’Hare International Airport.

Some of the areas that will likely be impacted by the late-week snow will still be cleaning up snow from the midweek storm.

An elongated band of snow originating from the northern Rockies will extend east-southeastward across the northern and central Plains to the lower Great Lakes.

A majority of the snow is forecast to fall along the Interstate 80 and I-90 corridors from South Dakota and Nebraska to New York and Pennsylvania.

“Because temperatures during this time period will remain well below freezing in the corridor impacted by snow, even the major interstates, as well as secondary roads, will quickly become snowcovered and treacherous for motorists,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Kyle Elliott said.

People with plans in or commutes to Rapid City, South Dakota; Des Moines, Iowa; Rochester, Minnesota; Chicago; Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo and Syracuse, New York, may face treacherous driving conditions with slick and snow-covered roads late this week.

“The snow is forecast to commence late Thursday afternoon in the Chicagoland area, which could lead to a gridlock for the Thursday evening rush hour,” Elliott said.

The snow will be light and fluffy in nature, which will make for less strenuous shoveling, but cause the snow to accumulate rather quickly.

“In general, most locations impacted by this system will receive 3-6 inches of snow,” Elliott said.

A narrow corridor of heavy snowfall is likely to set up within the main band of snow, where amounts may exceed 10 inches.

Should the band of precipitation sink far enough south, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Indianapolis; and Columbus, Ohio, could be at risk for a bit of snow and/or freezing drizzle late this week.

AccuWeather meteorologists anticipate the barrage of winter storms in the Central and Eastern states to continue for much of the balance of February.

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