Winter Weather Maker Creates Travel Challenges in North-Central U.S.

Alexis Thornton

Last week

The same weather maker that is bringing rain and snow to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California on Thursday is going to push into the Upper Midwest by the end of the week. The cold temperatures already in place in this part of the region will pave the way for the development of wintry precipitation. Read on for all of the details of this potentially treacherous forecast.

Chance of Ice and Snow Headed to the North-Central U.S.

Motorists and air travelers will want to stay abreast of the wintry forecast in store for the Upper Midwest and beyond by the end of the work week. A developing storm system in the Northwest is going to continue to track to the east and bring its impacts to millions of more Americans in its path.

The system will make it to the north-central U.S. by Friday evening. It is forecast to merge with the back end of the Arctic air mass that has been entrenched over this region for much of the week. The unseasonably cold air already circulating in the Upper Midwest and parts of the northern Plains will translate to a good shot of snow and ice.

The forecast models predict that the storm will reach the interior West late Thursday and into Friday. This region will be mostly spared from the greatest impacts as the bulk of the moisture is already being dumped in the coastal areas of the West Coast and into the Sierra Nevada. However, once this system ejects over the Rocky Mountains, it will be able to pull up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The result will be a large area of rain, ice, and snow that is expected to form across the northern Plains and eventually move into the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes to kick off the weekend.

A number of major metropolitan areas in the northern U.S. will be under the gun for wintry precipitation just in time for the Friday evening commute. The line of potential ice and snow is expected to set up over parts of interstates 80, 90, 94, and 35 across Nebraska, Iowa, Minneapolis, Wisconsin, and Illinois on Friday night.