Major cross-country storm to spread snow, rain along 2,600-mile swath
A storm will spread snow and drenching rain for thousands of miles from the southwestern United States to the Northeast and bring the potential for the first round of severe weather in weeks to parts of the South.
Badly needed rain and snow were a huge help to Southern California this past weekend, so is the wildfire threat over? What about drought?
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The same storm responsible for breaking the dry streak in Southern California at the start of the week will spread areas of rain, snow and ice from the Southwest to portions of the central United States at midweek and finally to part of the Northeast by the weekend, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
The storm delivered an average of an inch of rain to Southern California and several inches of snow over the region's mountains Sunday into Monday. By the time the storm completes its route this weekend, it will have traveled close to 2,600 miles from Long Beach, California, to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Storm to gain moisture, intensity over central US
Areas of heavy rain and snow will unfold soon after the storm reinvents itself over the middle of the nation at midweek.
Depending on the track and strength of the storm and its ability to generate cold air, accumulating snow is possible from northern Arizona to southeastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas and part of central Nebraska, beginning as early as Wednesday. At least a few inches of accumulation is expected with the highest amounts over the southern Rockies. Snow or a wintry mix could last into the end of the week over parts of the Rockies and High Plains.
Some cities that may experience enough snow to make travel slippery include Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Pueblo, Colorado. Denver may be on the receiving end of 1-3 inches of snow from late Wednesday night to Thursday morning.
Drenching rain will fall in part of the storm's warm sector to the south and east of its track.
"Rain will fall in an area of the South Central states that has experienced well-below-historical-average precipitation this month," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Courtney Travis said. "San Antonio and Austin are both in an extreme drought. The area could use the rain, but too much rain too quickly could lead to flooding concerns."
There is the potential for several inches of rain to fall and at least raise the risk of flash urban flooding and slick roads from central Texas to western Kentucky. It is possible that some locations will pick up 4-6 inches of rain with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 7 inches in 24 hours or less as the storm moves along.
As the storm ramps up, so will the risk of severe thunderstorms. The last time there was more than a stray potent thunderstorm was on Jan. 5, when several tornadoes touched down in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The potential for thunderstorms packing significant hail and powerful wind gusts will shift from central Texas on Wednesday to southeastern Texas on Thursday.
Narrow zone of snow, ice possible on storm's northern edge in Midwest, Northeast
The storm will continue to ride along the boundary between warm air to the south and seasonably cold air to the north as it tracks over the Eastern states late in the week.
"Depending on its track, the storm on Friday may bring snow or a wintry mix as far north as Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland in the Midwest," Travis said.
Drenching rain and perhaps some thunder and lightning will advance eastward across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Friday.
"From the mid-Mississippi and Ohio valleys to part of the central Appalachians, enough warmer air combined with the rain could increase the risk of ice jams on some area streams and rivers," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
Just ahead of the rain in the South Central and Southeast states, it may feel like spring for a short while, with temperatures reaching well into the 60s and even the 70s in some locations.
As the storm begins to move through the eastern quarter of the country, rain and thunderstorms could trigger travel problems, including airline ground stops in Atlanta and Charlotte from Friday to early Saturday.
In the Northeast, a wedge of cold air may be dry enough to prevent snow and a wintry mix in the northern parts of New York state and New England. However, that same cold wedge will likely lead to a wintry or icy mix in portions of the central Appalachians, the upper portion of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England from Friday to Saturday.
New York City is one of the major metro areas that could experience a wide range of precipitation with drenching rain to ice and snow from south to north. Even where several hours of heavy rain occur, such as in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., travel delays are likely from the storm for the tail end of the week to the first part of the weekend.
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