Chicago area in path of late-week snowstorm set to bury Midwest
By
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Dec 8, 2020 6:30 PM EDT
|
Updated Dec 10, 2020 3:31 PM EDT
Meteorologists are growing more confident on the exact track and strength of a late-week snowstorm expected to unleash wintry precipitation across an approximately 2,000-mile-long corridor from the southern Rockies in the United States to southern Canada.
The storm won't reach blockbuster status, but a storm of intermediate strength will not only impact a large swath of the U.S., it will also straddle the major metro areas of Chicago and Milwaukee, according to AccuWeather meteorologists, who have been tracking the storm potential for several days. The storm will begin to put down snow in portions of New Mexico and Colorado by Friday, and it won't conclude until Sunday over portions of southern Ontario and western Quebec.
The air will start off unseasonably warm over much of this zone at storm's onset, but colder air will invade the storm as it moves along, allowing a change from rain to snow to occur at many locations along the way.
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The first flakes of snow from the storm are likely to fall Thursday and early Friday over the mountains of northern New Mexico and Colorado.
"As the temperature drops, snow will then spread to intermediate and lower elevations in eastern Colorado and northern New Mexico, including the cities of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado, during Thursday night and Friday where up to a few inches may fall," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ snowfall of 14 inches is forecast for the high country over the Colorado Rockies and San Juan Mountains farther to the south.
The same storm will bring occasional rain to the some of the lower elevations in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah into Friday. Moisture in low-elevation desert locations has been scarce to non-existent since last spring. At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona, the last measurable rain had been on Aug. 20, when 0.90 of an inch of rain fell. Just before midnight on Wednesday evening, 0.01 of an inch fell, breaking the long dry streak.
Snow won't just be confined to the Rocky Mountains, and wintry precipitation will be much more far-reaching, threatening more widespread disruptions for travelers this weekend, especially since some major travel hubs will be impacted.
"During Friday and Friday night, rain is likely to become mixed with and change to snow farther to the east and northeast over northern Kansas, southern Nebraska, northern Missouri and southern Iowa," Anderson said.
"The transition to snow will continue to advance on Saturday in northern Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin and the central and northern parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan," Anderson added.
Road conditions may deteriorate as the afternoon and evening hours of Saturday progress around Chicago. The downtown area of the city will likely lie on the edge of a few inches of snow to the north and west and a small slushy accumulation to the south. A southeastward shift in the storm track by as little as 25 miles could put the stripe of 3- to 6-inch snowfall right in the city, instead of across the northern and western suburbs.
Chicago's O'Hare Airport hasn't picked up an inch of snow or greater since 3 inches of snow fell back on April 17. Only 0.7 of an inch has fallen at the official reporting site for the city since autumn began, and it occurred just a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving on Nov. 24. Since the official start of fall, Chicago has observed only about a quarter of the snowfall it typically gets to date.
Detroit is not likely to receive snow from the main part of the storm, but the heaviest snowfall of 6-12 inches is expected across areas farther to the north across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Even without this storm, Detroit is well ahead of seasonal snowfall, when compared to Chicago, with 6 inches thus far.
A few locations in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan may also approach the AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 18 inches.
Across the border in Canada, places like Sudbury, Ontario, could also be buried under 6-12 inches (15-30 centimeters) of snow, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 18 inches (45 centimeters), according to Anderson.
"We also expect a narrow zone of freezing rain, or an icy mix to be centered on part of the St. Lawrence Valley, including the Montreal area," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Feerick said.
A great deal of ice is not expected over southern Quebec, but enough to make some roads and sidewalks slippery for a time is likely this weekend.
As AccuWeather forecasters have been warning since earlier this week, colder air is forecast to wrap in on the back side of the storm before dry air takes over. Intermittent snow and snow showers could develop across areas that will get only rain during most of the storm over parts of the central Appalachians and lower Great Lakes area.
Bands of lake-effect snow can become intertwined with the last part of the storm from northern Indiana and western Michigan, eastward through northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western and central New York state from Sunday to Monday. Roads may be wet during the first part of the weekend, but forecasters explained that motorists should be prepared for pockets of wintry conditions on the backside of the storm later in the weekend.
Unless there is a drastic northwestward shift in the storm, Minneapolis should avoid a big snowfall and may avoid snow altogether this time. People in cities such as Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Peoria, Illinois; Lansing, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; and even Kansas City, Missouri; should closely monitor the forecast as subtle shifts in the storm track could mean the difference between snow showers and enough snow to shovel and plow.
On the storm's warm side, over the Southern and Eastern states, rain is in the offing for at least part of the weekend. That may not be the most problematic weather factor for motorists and airline passengers. Patchy fog may develop and lower visibility as warm and moist air flows over the chilled ground in Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Winter Weather
Chicago area in path of late-week snowstorm set to bury Midwest
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Dec 8, 2020 6:30 PM EDT | Updated Dec 10, 2020 3:31 PM EDT
Meteorologists are growing more confident on the exact track and strength of a late-week snowstorm expected to unleash wintry precipitation across an approximately 2,000-mile-long corridor from the southern Rockies in the United States to southern Canada.
The storm won't reach blockbuster status, but a storm of intermediate strength will not only impact a large swath of the U.S., it will also straddle the major metro areas of Chicago and Milwaukee, according to AccuWeather meteorologists, who have been tracking the storm potential for several days. The storm will begin to put down snow in portions of New Mexico and Colorado by Friday, and it won't conclude until Sunday over portions of southern Ontario and western Quebec.
The air will start off unseasonably warm over much of this zone at storm's onset, but colder air will invade the storm as it moves along, allowing a change from rain to snow to occur at many locations along the way.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The first flakes of snow from the storm are likely to fall Thursday and early Friday over the mountains of northern New Mexico and Colorado.
"As the temperature drops, snow will then spread to intermediate and lower elevations in eastern Colorado and northern New Mexico, including the cities of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado, during Thursday night and Friday where up to a few inches may fall," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ snowfall of 14 inches is forecast for the high country over the Colorado Rockies and San Juan Mountains farther to the south.
The same storm will bring occasional rain to the some of the lower elevations in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah into Friday. Moisture in low-elevation desert locations has been scarce to non-existent since last spring. At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona, the last measurable rain had been on Aug. 20, when 0.90 of an inch of rain fell. Just before midnight on Wednesday evening, 0.01 of an inch fell, breaking the long dry streak.
Snow won't just be confined to the Rocky Mountains, and wintry precipitation will be much more far-reaching, threatening more widespread disruptions for travelers this weekend, especially since some major travel hubs will be impacted.
"During Friday and Friday night, rain is likely to become mixed with and change to snow farther to the east and northeast over northern Kansas, southern Nebraska, northern Missouri and southern Iowa," Anderson said.
"The transition to snow will continue to advance on Saturday in northern Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin and the central and northern parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan," Anderson added.
Road conditions may deteriorate as the afternoon and evening hours of Saturday progress around Chicago. The downtown area of the city will likely lie on the edge of a few inches of snow to the north and west and a small slushy accumulation to the south. A southeastward shift in the storm track by as little as 25 miles could put the stripe of 3- to 6-inch snowfall right in the city, instead of across the northern and western suburbs.
Chicago's O'Hare Airport hasn't picked up an inch of snow or greater since 3 inches of snow fell back on April 17. Only 0.7 of an inch has fallen at the official reporting site for the city since autumn began, and it occurred just a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving on Nov. 24. Since the official start of fall, Chicago has observed only about a quarter of the snowfall it typically gets to date.
Detroit is not likely to receive snow from the main part of the storm, but the heaviest snowfall of 6-12 inches is expected across areas farther to the north across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Even without this storm, Detroit is well ahead of seasonal snowfall, when compared to Chicago, with 6 inches thus far.
A few locations in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan may also approach the AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 18 inches.
Across the border in Canada, places like Sudbury, Ontario, could also be buried under 6-12 inches (15-30 centimeters) of snow, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 18 inches (45 centimeters), according to Anderson.
"We also expect a narrow zone of freezing rain, or an icy mix to be centered on part of the St. Lawrence Valley, including the Montreal area," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Feerick said.
A great deal of ice is not expected over southern Quebec, but enough to make some roads and sidewalks slippery for a time is likely this weekend.
As AccuWeather forecasters have been warning since earlier this week, colder air is forecast to wrap in on the back side of the storm before dry air takes over. Intermittent snow and snow showers could develop across areas that will get only rain during most of the storm over parts of the central Appalachians and lower Great Lakes area.
Bands of lake-effect snow can become intertwined with the last part of the storm from northern Indiana and western Michigan, eastward through northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western and central New York state from Sunday to Monday. Roads may be wet during the first part of the weekend, but forecasters explained that motorists should be prepared for pockets of wintry conditions on the backside of the storm later in the weekend.
Unless there is a drastic northwestward shift in the storm, Minneapolis should avoid a big snowfall and may avoid snow altogether this time. People in cities such as Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Peoria, Illinois; Lansing, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; and even Kansas City, Missouri; should closely monitor the forecast as subtle shifts in the storm track could mean the difference between snow showers and enough snow to shovel and plow.
On the storm's warm side, over the Southern and Eastern states, rain is in the offing for at least part of the weekend. That may not be the most problematic weather factor for motorists and airline passengers. Patchy fog may develop and lower visibility as warm and moist air flows over the chilled ground in Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Related:
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo