Storm train continues: Weekend storm to spread another round of rain, snow and ice
From the Midwest to New England coastline, another storm will bring significant impacts to residents in the form of heavy snow, ice and rain this weekend.
A quick-moving winter storm makes for a slippery Thursday morning as accumulating snow and ice expand across the region.
The stormy pattern is ramping up across the central and eastern United States this week, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
While the first significant push of rain, snow and ice will continue to advance eastward across the nation through late week, a secondary round of active weather is expected to follow in quick succession this weekend.
Blustery, cold shot of air to precede weekend storm
Behind the initial midweek storm, cold air is expected to sweep southward from Canada, with temperatures dropping anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the midweek period. Many locations across the Ohio Valley and Northeast will feature a roller coaster of temperature rises and falls as the latter half of the week progresses.
Residents in Pittsburgh will face one of the most dramatic teases this week as highs in the 50s Thursday with rain and even a thunderstorm in the forecast. This burst of warmth will quickly be rescinded as temperatures drop back into the 20s F Thursday night and only rise into the 30s the next day to end the workweek.
Following the bursts of Arctic air, wintry weather and persistent cloudiness many experienced across the North this January, residents may be grateful to even have a fleeting moment of warmth and springlike conditions later this week before the wintry pattern returns with a vengeance.
Another round of rain, snow and ice to develop by Friday night
Most cities, like Indianapolis, Detroit, and Columbus, Ohio, will observe a brief, dry period Friday as a zone of high pressure glides across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and interior Northeast, but it won't last long.
The next weather-maker will become more organized across the Plains and shift into the Ohio Valley Friday evening through Friday night, spreading a swath of rain along the southern flank with a corridor of ice and snow on the northern edges.
Since the storms this week are affecting similar regions in such close succession, the impacts of this weekend's storm could double down and potentially be worse than the initial midweek storm.
Road crews cleaning up the initial round of snow and treating pavement for ice could become strained, especially due to the timing of the second storm, prompting them to work through the weekend.
A wave of accumulating snow will spread from the Dakotas through the Great Lakes and northern New England from Friday night to Sunday, potentially reaching areas farther south compared to the midweek round of snow.
A corridor of sleet and freezing rain is expected to develop from Iowa to the New England coast later this week, with concerns that notable ice accretions could potentially be more widespread than the initial round of ice during the midweek period.
Icing amounts above 0.25 of an inch on tree limbs, power lines, roadways and sidewalks can be detrimental, especially if resources necessary to pretreat roads become limited from use earlier in the week.
Power outages are most likely to occur where the ice accumulations are most significant, from the upper Ohio Valley through parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.
More storms expected into mid-February
AccuWeather's team of long-range forecasters has been hinting about a stormy first half of February since last September but also notes that there is potential for the active pattern to persist beyond midmonth.
"The storm this weekend is just the next in a series of storms that is part of the pattern change that began late last week," stated AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg.
Lundberg added that the persistent cold that gripped much of the country throughout January as well as a storm that produced unprecedented snow to parts of the Gulf Coast with a suppressed storm track, is now more centered across western and central Canada into the northern Rockies and northern Plains.
"Each time a storm moves through the pattern, a piece of Arctic air is drawn south and east, only for the next storm in the pattern to come along. As warmer air tries to move the low-level cold out of the way, it leads to snow, ice, and rain. Such will be the case with the storm this weekend (Friday night-Sunday morning) from the central Plains to the Northeast," explained Lundberg.
Forecasters noted that looking into the next week, another winter storm can develop across the Central and Eastern states.
"From late Monday into Wednesday, a storm will originate in Texas and move to the mid-Atlantic coast, with a larger swath of snow and ice to the north of its path, and the potential of heavy rain and severe weather across the South into the Southeast," warned Lundberg.
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