Another powerful storm is expected to hit the eastern half of the U.S. early next week, following this weekend’s nor’easter.
The FOX Forecast Center said this storm will be larger and more impactful and may cause a range of winter weather impacts, including snow, flooding rain, damaging wind and severe weather.
Starting on Monday, a storm will form in the Rockies and rapidly intensify as it moves towards the Plains. By Tuesday and Wednesday, the storm will reach its peak intensity and bring with it a wide range of impacts from the Southeast to the Great Lakes and Northeast regions.
“We talked about this at the end of 2023. We had so many discussions here on FOX Weather that we are in for a pattern change,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “Well, welcome to your pattern change. This is the verification of that forecast.”
Snow appears most likely to fall across the central Plains on Monday and to the Great Lakes on Tuesday, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
“The timing right now would possibly have some big impacts for places like Chicago, Kansas City, and Detroit as we go into Tuesday of next week,” Merwin said. “So this is one to watch.”
Exactly where and at what magnitude snow falls remains uncertain and will become more apparent as the event draws closer.
“This is a region that also had a measly winter showing last year that has not really seen a ton of winter weather this year,” Merwin added.
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Multiple inches of rain may fall from the Southeast to the Northeast as southerly winds keep these areas too warm for snow, the FOX Forecast Center said.
The areas that receive the most snow this weekend will be of particular concern. Additional heavy rain falling on top of the rapidly melting snow may lead to flooding.
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The FOX Forecast Center said impressively strong wind shear caused by powerful twisting winds aloft should easily support severe thunderstorms near the Gulf Coast on Monday.
There is still some uncertainty regarding how quickly rich, low-level moisture will be able to return northwards from the Gulf of Mexico into parts of Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley, as well as how far north it will reach. More moisture equals a higher chance of severe weather.
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For Monday, a Level 2 out of 5 risk was already issued from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center for severe weather over parts of coastal East Texas into Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle.
“Early indications from the Storm Prediction Center are always worth giving a lot of respect to because it’s a good indicator of the direction the forecast is trending,” Merwin said.
Given the very strong forecast wind shear, supercells and lines of storms capable of producing both tornadoes and damaging winds appear possible.
This severe threat may continue farther east on Tuesday into parts of Florida, Georgia and into the Carolinas, the FOX Forecast Center said.
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The size and low pressure of the storm will develop a large wind field capable of producing damaging gusts from the Plains to the Eastern Seaboard. The winds may be strongest across the Northeast, where they will come screaming out of the south on Tuesday.
While the details are still to be determined, the winds may be strong enough to result in significant power outages on Tuesday and Wednesday, the FOX Forecast Center said.