A couple of quick but unusually strong winter storms this week are expected to deliver a messy mix of heavy snow and gusty winds across the Upper Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Forecasters said some areas could see as much as a foot and a half of snow by the weekend.
Brian Hurley, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, said the systems — also known as “clippers” — typically produce light snow as they race across the northern United States. But this week, he said, a powerful atmospheric river parked over the Pacific Northwest is sending moisture into the upper atmosphere, making the storms on the other side of the country more potent.
“The snowfall rates will be pretty decent,” he said. “In the lower terrain areas of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, a lot of these areas are going to get three to five inches, and usually one to three inches is likely with these clipper systems.”
The first storm will move from the Upper Midwest into New York, Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region on Wednesday. Snowfall totals of four to six inches are forecast across much of the area, but forecasters said that, with lake-effect snow, parts of upstate New York could receive eight inches to more than a foot by Friday morning. The Weather Prediction Center issued a range of winter weather advisories and warnings through Thursday.
Blizzard warnings were also issued for parts of West Virginia and for western Maryland through Thursday morning. Forecasters expect that up to a foot of snow, paired with wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour, may “significantly reduce visibility,” at times to a quarter-mile or less. The Weather Prediction Center said the hazardous conditions were likely to affect the commutes Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
More snow is expected later this week.
The next system will track closely behind the first, entering the Midwest by Thursday evening and introducing another round of winter weather from the Northern High Plains into the Ohio Valley.
According to the Weather Prediction Center, a narrow corridor of light to moderate snow will stretch from the eastern Dakotas and southern Minnesota into northern Iowa. Snow from this system is expected to shift into the Lower Ohio Valley on Thursday night and reach the central Appalachians by early Friday. More than four inches are forecast from central Minnesota southeastward across northern Illinois, south-central Indiana and southern Ohio.
The National Weather Service office in Charleston, W.Va., said snowfall from this storm would most likely be “more impactful” across the region. The heaviest accumulations will be expected during the Friday morning commute.
Mr. Hurley said the higher elevations of eastern West Virginia and western Maryland were expected to receive the most substantial totals, with combined accumulations from both storms reaching six inches to nearly a foot and a half by Saturday morning.
Parts of the Mid-Atlantic may also see light snow on Friday, particularly along the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia and possibly in northern Virginia, northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. But the Weather Prediction Center said that most snow should be light and that any travel impacts would probably be minor.
Nazaneen Ghaffar is a Times reporter on the Weather team.
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