A powerful storm sweeping across the U.S. this week is bringing multiple threats to more than 30 states, including flooding rain, heavy mountain snow, severe weather and strong winds.
Heavy rain has already been reported in the Pacific Northwest as the storm continues to push its way inland, and the FOX Forecast Center says the main energy from the storm system is now starting to move into the Rockies, where winter weather alerts are in place due to threats of heavy snow in the higher elevations.
“That’s where the bulk of the energy is going to be found today,” FOX Weather meteorologist Jane Minar said. “The storm is going to be an interesting one for us to continue to watch as we go into the end of the week.”
Additional rain totals won’t amount to much in the Pacific Northwest, but high snow totals are anticipated as you travel higher in elevation.
Winter weather alerts stretch across the Rockies, and they will remain in effect until at least Thursday afternoon while the storm system spins off to the east.
Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for parts of Wyoming and Montana, and travel in those areas is not advised as snow will make driving treacherous.
Elsewhere, Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Watches have been issued across portions of Utah, Colorado and South Dakota.
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“I mean, you’ve got this snow potentially reaching upwards of a foot in some of our highest peaks,” Minar said. “Some low elevations could pick up maybe an inch or two out of this storm.”
And while snow may make for some dicey commutes in the higher elevations, it’s not the big talker.
Heavy rain is expected in the lower elevations across some of the major cities in the area, like Denver and Salt Lake City.
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The storm will gain strength as it crosses the Plains and moves into the Midwest, where several inches of rain and severe weather are possible through the start of the weekend.
Flooding is also a concern where the heaviest rain bands set up through the rest of the week.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has placed areas of northeastern Nebraska, central and southern Iowa and northern Illinois in a level 1 out of 5 on its thunderstorm risk scale. The main threats from any severe thunderstorms that develop will be large hail and flash flooding.
The severe weather threat increases on Thursday as the storm system continues moving across the U.S., and the SPC has placed areas of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas under a level 2 out of 5 on its thunderstorm risk scale.
The main threats from any severe thunderstorms that develop on Thursday will be tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts and flash flooding.
The powerful storm will continue to track east and reach the Ohio Valley, the Great Lakes region and the Northeast by Saturday.
That means another wet weekend is in store for millions across the region that has seen weekend after weekend of wet weather since the beginning of the summer.
The FOX Forecast Center says a coastal storm is expected to develop Saturday and Sunday, with widespread rain and gusty winds for the Northeast and New England.
It’s still too warm to support snow, which is why there’s a threat of flash flooding across the region because of the heavy rain.
The storm is expected to push out of the region by Monday, according to the FOX Forecast Center.