Snow showers, squalls to make for dangerous travel in part of eastern US into Thursday evening
Flurries, snow showers and locally heavy and dangerous snow squalls will prowl area highways in parts of the eastern United States into Thursday evening.
Meteorologists and officials are warning drivers to prepare for the dangers and know how to handle wintry and whiteout conditions on the highway this winter.
As the storm that unloaded heavy snow on parts of the central Atlantic coast heads out to sea, a trailing storm from the Midwest will cause some travel problems over a broad area in the form of flurries, snow showers and locally heavy snow squalls into Thursday evening, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
By this point in winter, most motorists are typically in tune with safe driving skills when dealing with snow. However, the nature of the snow showers swinging from the Midwest to the Appalachians and as far east as coastal areas from North Carolina to Massachusetts can be sudden and dramatic.
The sun may enhance snow showers, especially east of the Appalachians, much like it does with thunderstorms in the spring and summer. A manageable snow shower can evolve into a brief but very heavy episode of snow in a localized area.
Multiple lighter flurries, snow showers and a heavy snow squall can occur at any one given location, with the greatest danger being where snow did not fall and accumulate on area roads from the storm on Wednesday and Wednesday night.
The late February sun will also work magic by preventing snow from accumulating on treated roads during the midday hours, as the sunlight is a bit stronger than it was earlier in the winter closer to the December solstice. Despite some preventative measures and the sun's warming effects, some of the snow showers can be so heavy that they bring a brief, dangerous accumulation along with a drastic drop in visibility. It may even seem like a blizzard has suddenly erupted.
A snow squall may appear as a wall of white with little time to react when driving at high speed on the highway. (Photo credit Alex Sosnowski/AccuWeather)
In the heaviest snow squalls, a coating to an inch or two of snow can fall in a matter of minutes before the shower moves on as quickly as it arrived. When squalls occur on high-speed highways clogged with traffic, it can be extremely dangerous and lead to deadly pileups.
"Another danger will be the persistence of the snow showers into the evening hours on Thursday," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. "Just enough cooling of road surface temperatures from late in the afternoon into the evening can allow even a light snow shower to create sudden slippery conditions."
As the flurries and snow showers sweep through the airport hubs in the East, deicing operations will kick into gear and can lead to airline departure delays.
Motorists should travel with caution in this generally harmless weather pattern when not on the road into Thursday evening.
Aside from locally heavy bands of lake-effect snow near the Great Lakes and over the higher terrain of the central Appalachians, most areas can expect a day free from falling snow on Friday ahead of the start of a warming trend and a release from winter's firm grip that has lasted for so many weeks.
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