Following winter storm Gia which blanketed large parts of the central US and up to the mid Atlantic coast in North Carolina with up to 12 inches of snow in places, the pattern remains favorable for more cold outbreaks and winter snow storms for the remainder of January.
Following modest temperatures to start this week, by the weekend there’s growing confidence many central and eastern parts of the USA including the mid west, great lakes, upper north east will be plunged into a deep mid winter freeze. Most weather models are now in agreement of this deep and truly potent Arctic blast that will deliver well below average temperatures by the weekend. The peak of the cold may not be until Monday the 21st, when some computer models forecast central and eastern states to be up to 30F below average! But there’s some uncertainty…
There’s also growing confidence of the next Winter Storm, which could affect the north east this Friday. Many north east states could see 4-6 inches of snowfall through Friday giving way to slick travelling conditions. The GFS weather model is forecasting settling snow for inland areas of Pennsylvania, New York state, Massechuesets, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Weekend weather pattern: potentially dangerous scenario:
There’s definite signs of a possibility of a true mid winter blizzard late this weekend (Sunday into Monday). However – there is also some uncertainty. Some weather models paint a very dangerous scenario for this weekend with a tight boundary between milder air to the south and cold air to the north producing a very potent winter storm system / blizzard for much of the central and north eastern / eastern portions of the US. In fact some computer models are forecasting multi states to recieve widespread 1ft + of snowfall.
This total snow accumulation chart courtesy of tropicaltidbits.com shows how much snow the GFS is predicting to fall by 6am Monday, not the area of pink and “greenish” extending from Kansas all the way up to Newfoundland, indicating the risk of a major storm system / blizzard. Keep a close eye on forecasts, at the moment this is just a possibility:
Usually when these things pop up in the “Long range” output we tend to disregard them, however since the majority of computer models are forecasting this event now, the potential is growing and SHOULD NOT be ignored. Please make sure you keep a close eye on forecasts over the next few days. This is not a system to mess around with and could bring significant disruption Sunday 20th – Monday 21st.