A significant winter storm will rock the north and north east including the lakes from much of highland Kansas through Northern Missouri, Northern Illinois, north and east Wisconsin and northern Indiana – Michigan and much of Ontario, Quebec. Strong winds will be an issue and where snow does fall on the higher regions of the coastal states and in land to lower levels near the central and northern lakes; snow drifts may form. Moderate to heavy wet snow will fall on Friday through Kansas, Missouri and into Illinois, before affecting great lake regions later in the day, up into much of southern, eastern Ontario through Saturday. Snowfall totals will vary from place to place however our snow map below gives a good indication as to the overall spread of bad weather. Most coastal states will receive rain on the coast with a mixture of rain and snow in land.Strong winds will also be an issue for much of the lakes with gusts widely ranging from 30-40mph during snowfall especially as the storm heads into Ontario and Quebec on Saturday giving widespread prolonged heavy snowfall.
Snowfall Warning. Issued 16.25 CDT.
Map Colour Code Explanation
The map above shows where rain (green) will fall, a mix (gray) and snow (blue). The intensities of blue show the intensities of snow predicted, from light with a low possibility of seeing snow indicated by the lightest shade of blue, moderate snow by medium blue and heavier snow with a risk of drifting and blizzard conditions within the dark blue zone.
It’s worth noting that those close to or around 150 miles from the east coast will be much too warm to experience any snowfall including those in the green areas who will just get rain. So most coastal areas, New Jersey, Boston, NYC, will just get rain. Travel in land though, and places above 1,000ft for upstate New York State, New Hampshire and Maine areas could see some heavy snow through Saturday as the system feeds snow showers on it’s rear end. This will also feed in more substantial lake effect snow for the lake regions.
This image below (CREDIT: ACCUWEATHER), shows where the worst of the lake effect could be later this week and into the weekend:
Exact snow accumulations are not to be taken as a definite and accumulations will vary from place to place due to altitude. Strong winds, especially around the eastern lakes coasts and into Canada will produce drifting of snow. Through the weekend and into next week there is a continued risk of heavy Lake Effect snowfall on lake regions. There is the potential for another winter storm through Tuesday (13th) of next week. This will affect the east coast, mid Atlantic and south east with heavy rain and a risk of flooding. However in land, for western WV, north western PA, north western NY state, there could be significant falls of wet snow through next Tuesday and then more lake effect snow next Tuesday/ Wednesday for great lake areas. It’s all happening.