Intruding chill to snap warm spell across the eastern US by the weekend

Following a stretch of springlike conditions across the eastern United States through midweek, a cold front sweeping through the region will usher in a more typical winterlike air mass late week and into the weekend.

Through February, Atlanta, Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and many other cities east of the Appalachian Mountains have observed temperatures 4-6 degrees F above average. That warm trend is expected to continue through midweek as a storm system lifts through the Ohio Valley and interior Northeast.

As the trend has been nearly all winter, the midweek storm will once again bring rain to the big cities along the Interstate-95 corridor. The system will begin to lift off into southeastern Canada by Thursday and in the wake of the system, cold air will sweep southward from Canada.

As the cold air tracks southward over the Great Lakes Thursday, lake-effect snow is expected to pick up in earnest across the region.

In a typical winter, ice cover over the lakes normally begins to suppress lake-effect activity by the end of February. With the lakes remaining largely ice-free up to this point, heavy snow is expected across the typical lake-effect snow belts.

A favorable setup for lake-effect snow could persist through Saturday as a blustery west-to-northwest wind flow over the lakes.

The cold air will not be limited to the Great Lakes and Northeast late week, as many locales across the Southeast can expect a rather chilly weekend.

With the exception of coastal cities and Florida, the entire Southeast can expect to experience subfreezing overnight low temperatures this weekend. This could pose a threat to anyone who has outdoor plants beginning to bud.

Along with the cold weather across the Southeast this weekend, there is a chance portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding areas could have a few snowflakes fly Saturday morning as a weak disturbance swings through.

While this may not be the coldest air mass to impact the eastern United States this winter, many locales can still expect a multi-day span from Thursday to Sunday where temperatures will be below average by about 5-15 degrees.

One other weather factor that will make it feel even colder across the Eastern states will be the wind. A gusty west-to-northwest wind later week into this weekend will help to lower the RealFeel® Temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below the actual thermometer reading.

Aside from the threat for lake-effect snow and a few flurries across the Southeast Saturday, largely dry conditions are expected.

AccuWeather meteorologists predict that the streak of cold weather should give way to moderating conditions into the first week of March.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Report a Typo