The combination of cold air from an arctic front and developing moisture from the country’s southern jet stream could result in a significant winter weather event from the Lone Star State through the Appalachian Mountains to end the weekend and start the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday workweek.
The FOX Forecast Center warned that the combination of ice and snow could impact communities that aren’t used to seeing significant winter weather events, which could lead to treacherous travel.
Dallas in Texas, Little Rock in Arkansas, as well as Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, are all included in a zone that could see both ice and snow, during an event that will start on Sunday and quickly work its way eastward.
Winter Storm Watches have already been issued for many of these communities, with Winter Storm Warnings likely to be issued during the next 36 hours.
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The largest threat of ice accretion stretches from Austin and the Interstate 35 corridor in Texas through Shreveport and the Interstate 20 corridor in Louisiana.
Any ice buildups across the South will mean travel over bridges, overpasses and roadways could be difficult, and cold air temperatures could prolong the event.
So far, totals are expected to remain light and below the criteria of an Ice Storm Warning. Even with totals below 0.25 inches, roadways are expected to be slick and pockets of power outages are possible with falling tree limbs.
Communities north of Interstate 20 throughout the entire South are preparing for snowfall.
Dallas in Texas, Little Rock in Arkansas, as well as Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville in Tennessee, are all in line to see some accumulating snow within the next 72 hours.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, energy will gain moisture as it travels through the South. This means parts of Arkansas and Tennessee could receive several inches of snowfall, which would likely paralyze travel. Of particular concern to forecasters are the communities of Little Rock in Arkansas and Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, where snowfall accumulations could reach 3-5 inches with isolated higher amounts.
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Memphis’ last significant snowfall was in February 2021, when more than 3 inches fell. If snowfall accumulations are on the higher end of expectations, the event could reach levels last seen in 1985 when more than 6 inches fell in the Home of the Blues.
“It won’t take too much snowfall to create travel hazards Sun. through Mon. given how cold conditions will be,” the National Weather Service office in Little Rock, Arkansas, stated.
The possibility of record-low temperatures on both Monday and Tuesday will ensure that frozen precipitation will remain on the ground into midweek.
Forecast models show the moisture exiting the Eastern Seaboard on Monday, but its trajectory off the mid-Atlantic could mean the difference between a few snowflakes in the Northeast or several inches of new powder.
A low-level center that passes on or near the coastline of the Northeast could allow for several inches of snowfall in big cities such as Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
These communities make up what is known as the Interstate 95 corridor – the most populated region in the country.
If the storm system’s center is several hundred miles off the coast, as some forecast models show, only limited moisture would be around for the corridor, which would result in a light dusting.
Many large cities from New York southward are in the midst of historic snowfall deficits, with the last major event happening nearly two years ago.