As one storm system exists the country, another event is on its heals, which will likely produce heavy snowfall and severe storms in parts of the country that just wrapped up seeing their share of active weather.
The FOX Forecast Center expects a band of heavy snow will fall from Missouri to Michigan, with severe weather possible from Texas through the Carolinas.
Similarly to the past two storm systems, major cities in the Northeast will miss out from seeing accumulating snow, with temperatures simply too warm to support frozen precipitation along the coast.
The storm system has already triggered Blizzard warnings in higher elevations in the Pacific Northwest, and wind gusts have topped 100 mph on some ridges.
Major impacts are expected to begin late on Thursday across the Plains and last until the storm system pushes into Canada and off the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday.
“Storm three looks eerily similar to the track and trajectory of storm two…which means there could be a rinse and repeat pattern later on this week,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Steve Bender.
The snowfall is expected to be the lightest over the Plains and increase in coverage and intensity throughout the Great Lakes.
The first flakes are expected to start flying on Thursday, with Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indianapolis all seeing accumulating snow by Friday.
Forecast models show some communities in the Great Lakes could pick up on snowfall in the double digits with wind gusts of more than 30 mph.
The areas that will see the heaviest snow likely won’t be set in stone until around Thursday morning, when more accurate computer model runs will be able to determine where the storm system’s center will travel and how much cold air will be available.
The combination of the heavy snow and gusty winds could make travel impossible along the I-80 corridor, with frozen precipitation making it as far south as Interstate 40.
Cities such as Chicago and Detroit sit ready to at least double their snowfall accumulations for the season. The Windy City has only reported around 6″ of snowfall since Dec. 1, and Detroit has only seen a measly 1.1″ of snow.
Where warm air will be dominant, south of Interstate 40, communities have the chance of seeing strong to severe storms.
EL NINO APPEARS TO BE ON VERGE OF RAPID COLLAPSE
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center highlighted areas in the South days in advance of the actual storm system arriving, meaning that certainty is high for threats of damaging winds and tornadoes on Thursday and Friday.
Thursday’s highest threat zone is centered over East Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. On Friday, the threat zone is expected to progress eastward and stretch from Mississippi through North Carolina.
Forecasters warn that due to the available destabilization, the atmosphere could be conducive for more supercell development than what was experienced earlier in the week, which featured more of a linear structure.
Discrete cells are known to produce stronger tornadoes than those associated with squall lines, which lead to more widespread wind damage.
Communities such as Dothan, Alabama; Panama City, Florida; and Claremont, North Carolina, which were hit hard during a severe weather outbreak on Tuesday, are included in Friday’s threat zone.
“The subtropical jet because the El Niño phase is allowing systems to rip and roar and stay active down South,” said Bender.
DEADLY STORMS SWEEP ACROSS SOUTH WITH EXTENSIVE TORNADO DAMAGE
Behind the frontal boundary will be the coldest air of the season, dropping temperatures to around 0 degrees as far south as Missouri and values reaching at least -30 degrees along the U.S.-Canada border.
As the next workweek progresses, the arctic air mass is expected to spread south and eastward, but questions remain on the staying pattern of the cold air.
Will the cold air be able to stick around for an extended period, or will the air mass moderate, providing just a glancing blow of winter?
These details will matter because if the cold air mass has staying power, chances increase that a future storm system will be able to take advantage and produce snowfall in locales that are running historic deficits.