Winter Weather in Store This Weekend for Plains Through New England

Yet another major snowstorm is expected to impact travel in a zone stretching from the Midwest and up into the far reaches of New England this weekend. Read on for what you need to know about the impending winter weather maker.

Weekend Forecast Calling for More of the Same in the Central and Eastern U.S.

Do not let the warmer temperatures across parts of the central and eastern U.S. this week fool you. More winter weather is headed to this region by the weekend as the February storm train continues to chug along at a breakneck speed. Forecasters are predicting that the weekend event will result in accumulating snowfall for at least 20 states located to the east of the Rocky Mountains.

The weekend weather will be a continuation of the active storm track that has gripped a good majority of the country this month. Most of the storms have been crossing the country at a fast clip with the next system expected to also move quickly.

Residents of the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes, and the Northeast have barely had time to clean up from the last snowstorm as a new system is waiting in the wings. This system is the same storm that has been dumping several inches of rain and snow across California.

The storm in California will push to the east in the days ahead. While it will lose some of its energy as it moves over the Rockies on Friday, it is expected to reorganize once it ejects out of this mountain range. The storm will be able to bring up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico in its beginning stages before pulling in more moisture from the Atlantic Ocean when it reaches the eastern U.S.

You can expect the snow to begin on Friday throughout the northern and central Plains. The line of snow will race to the east and into the Upper Midwest late Friday and into Saturday. The Northeast will begin to see the impacts on Saturday.

Widespread snowfall accumulations of 3 to 6 inches are likely with this storm. Plowable snow is likely for major metropolitan areas such as Minneapolis, Des Moines, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Boston.

Travel Disruptions a Good Possibiilty

Travelers should be prepared for a number of disruptions, regardless of if they are traveling by air or by motor vehicle. Some of the nation's busiest airport hubs will be in the line of fire for this weekend storm, meaning that there will be a ripple effect across the flight network.

It has already been a week of airline delays, cancellations, and other types of disruptions. A United Regional Jet operated by GoJet Airlines slid off a taxiway before coming to a complete stop at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) on Wednesday morning. The aircraft was carrying 27 people when it slid into a grassy area just after 11 am just after landing. The jet had departed earlier in the day from Washington Dulles International Airport.

There were no injuries attributed to the incident. A spokesperson for GoJet Airlines said that the icy taxiway was likely to blame.

Inclement weather was also to blame for a pileup on Interstate 84 in Multnomah County, Oregon on Thursday. Local officials said that at least 100 vehicles were involved in a series of accidents in the area east of Portland. At least one vehicle caught fire in the pileup.

Westbound Interstate 84 was closed for several hours as a result of the string of accidents. Whitecout conditions were the story for the day in this part of the western U.S. This inclement weather is part of the same system that is forecast to come out of the Rockies and to the east this weekend.

In addition to the heavy snow, winds hitting speeds of up to 66 mph worked to create the whiteout conditions. Cold air has anchored itself over the Northwest in recent days, supporting the development of the wintry precipitation. This cold air has been the most pronounced in the Columbia Gorge east of Portland and down into the Willamette Valley.

Where the Weekend Storm is Headed Next

The weekend event is going to track farther to the south when compared to the midweek storm. This means that a large portion of Interstate 70 across the Midwest and into Pennsylvania will see the impacts. To the north, the impacts will reach interstates 80 and 90 at times.

Some of the heaviest snow bands will set up across Interstate 90 in New York with 6 to 12 inches expected in this zone. Heading to the north, the northern reaches of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are bracing for snowfall accumulation of 12 to 18 inches.

Warmer temperatures during the peak of the precipitation activity will turn the wintry mix to all rain in an area south of interstates 84 and 86 across New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The competing air temperatures will make it more difficult to determine what areas will escape with rain and who should be ready for wintry impacts.

The major metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. are anticipating straight rain out of the weekend storm. This is good news for these cities that experienced significant snowfall earlier in the week. However, the rain falling onto the existing snowpack will raise the threat of flooding in poor drainage areas.

Meteorologists are also warning that enough rain will fall to increase the threat of ice jams and flooding across some of the streams and secondary rivers located from the Ohio Valley and into the central Appalachians. This will be a potential area of concern that meteorologists will be monitoring throughout the weekend.

When Will the Storm Train Come to a Stop?

There appears to be no end in sight for the winter weather. Forecasters are also keeping tabs on how the atmospheric conditions will develop and support another storm next week. This system is predicted to come together as an influx of Arctic air dives down from Canada into the northern Plains before moving to the Atlantic coastline.

Temperatures are likely to dip about 10 to 20 degrees below the historical average for the middle of February across most of the eastern two-thirds of the country. It will be even colder in the northern Plains with the mercury predicted to plummet as low as 40 degrees below the norm in this region. This will translate to overnight lows that slip to 30 degrees below 0 in Minot, North Dakota during the coldest stretch of days.

While the forecast models are still preliminary, this system could find the necessary ingredients to dump heavy snow across portions of the central Plains, over into the mid-Atlantic, and up through New England. There is a chance that this system could end up being the most impactful of the season for the central and southern Plains, the mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast. For instance, there is a shot that this storm could take on characteristics of a classic nor'easter.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. The long-range forecast is indicating that next week's storm will mark the end of the active weather pattern. This is welcome news for those tired of dragging out the snow shovels every week.

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