Winter storm to ring in December from Midwest to Northeast, bringing travel-disrupting heavy snow
December's first week will feature multiple rounds of wintry weather in the Midwest and Northeast, starting with a sprawling storm which will bring several cities their first accumulating snow of the season by Tuesday.
Lake-effect snow caused a car accident in Spencerport, New York, on Nov. 28. Additionally, it has led to poor travel conditions throughout the Northeast and Midwest regions of the U.S.
A post-Thanksgiving blitz of winter weather that started with the season's first significant winter storm in much of the Midwest will continue into the first few days of December, as a new snowstorm takes shape and spans nearly two dozen states from Kansas to Maine, warn AccuWeather meteorologists.
The storm is expected to bring the first widespread accumulating snow of the season to much of the interior Northeast on Tuesday, just a day after many parts of the Midwest will experience their second covering of snow in as many days.
A person walks against the blowing snow Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
"With cold air entrenched across the Midwest and Great Lakes courtesy of the storm over the weekend, the corridor of snow and ice concerns is expected to shift farther south this week," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. "It will impact a broad zone from Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Ohio Valley and Northeast."
Meanwhile, a soaking rain will result in very slow commutes and a risk for flooding on the storm's warm side, including in many of the big cities along the I-95 corridor in the East.
The messy storm is not expected to be the only one this week in the Midwest and Northeast. AccuWeather winter weather experts are monitoring the possibility of at least one more impact storm through the first 10 days of December as cold air will continue to pour in from the Arctic and Canada.
A plowable snow early in the new work and school week
On Sunday, the winter storm was in its early stages, bringing snow to the Rockies, including Denver, which will experience its second accumulating snow in as many days following the end of a near-record long snowless streak that dated back to April.
By early Monday, snow will expand east across central portions of the Plains and toward the Mississippi Valley, resulting in mostly light accumulations of a few inches and some slippery travel in places like Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska.
Farther east, an infusion of moisture from the Gulf will take the storm to the next level, as a period of heavy snow will break out by Monday night and Tuesday morning from the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley to the interior mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Cities like Cincinnati; Pittsburgh; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Hartford, Connecticut, are expected to experience their first noteworthy accumulating snow of the winter, with the heaviest amounts, likely significant enough to shutter some schools and businesses, coming near a rain-snow battleground.
"The rain versus snow line is expected to come close to the Interstate 95 corridor between Monday night and Tuesday," said Buckingham. "A slight shift in the storm track farther offshore could help to pull in cold enough air for snow to occur in places like Philadelphia, New York City and Boston."
Scranton, Pennsylvania; Albany, New York; Worcester, Massachusetts; Concord, New Hampshire; and Bangor and Portland, Maine, were among the cities where higher totals are forecast.
"Just on the other side of the rain-snow line, where the colder air is more dominant, a zone of 3-6 inches of snow is possible across eastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and across portions of New England," noted Buckingham.
The fast-moving nature of the storm will save many areas from measuring more than 6 inches, but the AccuWeather Local StormMax™ is 12 inches, and would likely occur inland from the coast in northern or eastern New England thanks to the storm gaining strength as it moves over the waters of the Atlantic.
A small area near the rain-snow line can experience ice in the form of sleet or freezing rain for a time as the storm moves through. This is most likely from the Ozarks to a portion of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, as well as in the eastern Appalachians and ridge-and-valley region from western Virginia to southern Pennsylvania.
While any ice accretions are expected to be minimal, any amount of icing can lead to dangerous travel, with slippery roads possible in cities like Little Rock, Arkansas, and Roanoke, Virginia.
Slow commutes thanks to pouring rain in many big cities
The impending storm will not just result in impactful snow, but also impactful rain for a swath of the South and Eastern Seaboard, warn AccuWeather meteorologists. Multiple commutes, especially on Tuesday along the I-95 corridor from the Carolinas to southern New England, can be slowed by soaking downpours.
While the rain is much-needed in many areas, it will be too much of a good thing, too quickly. A fast 1-2 inches of rain can fall from Atlanta to Charlotte to Washington, DC., and Philadelphia with the storm, overwhelming storm drains and leading to ponding on roadways and in low-lying areas.
The Tuesday morning commute can be especially impacted in the mid-Atlantic, where travel times could be doubled due to poor visibility from road spray due to the heavy rain.
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Depending on where the rain-snow line sets up in southern New England, the Tuesday evening commute could also be a soggy one there, especially near the coast. Boston will likely toggle back and forth between rain and snow, resulting in a slushy mess.
As quickly as the heavy rain and snow arrives, it will exit by Tuesday night, with high pressure and dry, windy weather returning behind the storm on Wednesday.
More storminess ahead by the weekend
The current active and wintry weather pattern will not end with the early week storm. AccuWeather's team of long-range experts, led by Paul Pastelok, are warning the better part of the first two weeks of the month will remain cold and stormy across much of the central and eastern parts of the nation.
Another storm, which was still located over the Pacific Ocean as of Sunday, will cross the country and gather energy and moisture before bringing another round of snow and ice to much of the Midwest and East late in the week and into the new weekend.
While the exact details and timing of this storm remain to be seen, it appears yet another round of accumulating snow will occur in places such as Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh, and perhaps even close to the big cities in the Northeast.
The snow and ice can even occur in two phases, depending how the weather pattern unfolds into the second week of December.
Earlier this year, AccuWeather's winter forecast called for colder weather to take hold early in the season, in December. It also indicated snowfall for the entire season would likely end up above the historical average for swaths of the Midwest, but below average in the East.
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