Train of Storms to Bring Midwest, Northeast Unrelenting Snow Into Next Week
AccuWeather reports a train of storms will bring round after round of snow from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast this weekend into early next week.
The storms will bring episodes of snow every 12-24 hours or so from northern Minnesota, upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and New England.
In some cases, there may be snow of varying intensity from this weekend right straight through into early next week.
The first batch of snow in the train will move into the Upper Midwest on Friday, by way of Canada and take a track to the east-southeast.
Additional systems will follow into early Monday in the Midwest, reaching the Northeast by Tuesday.
Most of the snow events will tend to be more of a nuisance, where property owners will have to clean off a coating to an inch or two of snow periodically, while road crews will have to put down several rounds of deicing or anti-skid materials.
There will be some exceptions, mainly just north of the track of each of the storms where several inches of snow can fall. The cumulative effect of the snow could be quite heavy for some communities.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "The potential is there for a heavy accumulation in some of the same places that were hit hard with feet of snow in the past two weeks."
From a skiing standpoint, the pattern is about as good as it gets from the Upper Midwest to New York state and New England with natural snow and persistent cold air.
The storms will move along an extreme temperature boundary separating arctic air to the northeast from mild Pacific air to the southwest.
During this weekend, cities such as Detroit, Boston and Albany, New York, will likely remain in the snowy, cold zone, while areas from Chicago to Cincinnati and Philadelphia will likely remain in the mild and rainy zone.
Significant Winter Storm Possible Early Next Week
Perhaps the storm to watch closely for widespread travel disruptions in the Northeast, including the mid-Atlantic, will be the caboose of the train.
Sometimes the last storm in the series ends up be the strongest and the largest. This is because the storm has the least amount of competition and marks the start of a new weather pattern.
There is some indication that as the last storm in the series moves from the central Appalachians to the upper mid-Atlantic coast, it will strengthen from late Sunday into Monday. As this happens, cold air will spread southward, along with wintry precipitation.
Depending on how quickly and how far south this last storm of the bunch tracks will determine the extent and amount of snow, as well as how far south a change to a wintry mix or all snow will occur from Chicago to Washington, D.C., and the New York City area.
"After the push of mild air into parts of the northern Plains, Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic, the pattern of waves of cold air will resume during next week and may last much of the month," Abrams said.
"Even with the waves of cold returning, there will still be a few brief episodes of semi-spring in between the cold shots."