Classic Early-Spring Storm Set To Spread Snow From Arizona To Maine

A classic early-spring winter storm will spread across the United States into the weekend, bringing widespread accumulating snow from northern Arizona all the way to the northern woods of Maine. The sprawling storm will really get its act together as it rolls up the East Coast, bringing double-digit snowfall totals to New England this weekend.

March is a cruel transition month. It’s warm and sunny one day, cold and snowing the next. It’s like that every year, and somehow it manages to catch us off guard every year. This pattern is no different—many places have enjoyed temperate temperatures in recent days, and that’ll all be a distant memory by this weekend after the swipe of one powerful cold front.

A trough swooping over the center of the country will allow for light snow to fall over the southern Plains and Mid-South through the day on Friday. A couple of inches of snow is possible from Oklahoma and north Texas eastward to northern Alabama. Widespread winter weather advisories are in effect ahead of the (unwelcome) burst of winter.

Things will get interesting once the trough approaches the Appalachians. A low-pressure system will develop over the southeast on Friday evening, rapidly strengthening as it races up the Atlantic seaboard. For some perspective on how fast it’s moving: the center of the low will be over central North Carolina on Friday evening and over central New Brunswick on Saturday evening.

The swift intensification will allow for ripping snowfall rates over the eastern Great Lakes and interior New England. The latest snowfall forecast from the National Weather Service calls for half a foot of snow from the Blue Ridge to northern Maine, with more than a foot of snow likely near the Canadian border from Lake Ontario to Caribou.

As usual with sprawling springtime storms, warmer air on the southern end of the system will allow for organized severe thunderstorms to develop. We’ll see a risk for severe storms across parts of the southeast on Friday and Saturday.

The most concerning severe weather day will be Friday, where storms are possible from Baton Rouge to Orlando. The greatest threat appears centered on northern Florida and southern Georgia. Tornadoes, damaging winds, and some instances of large hail are all possible. The tornado threat is maximized in and around the enhanced risk (orange) area, including Tallahassee.

The risk for severe thunderstorms will follow the cold front east on Saturday, bringing the risk for damaging winds and a couple of tornadoes to the coast from Florida to southeastern Virginia. 

It’s going to get cold behind that cold front. Cold. 

Chilly temperatures will descend on the United States by Sunday morning, covering just about everyone from Los Angeles to Orlando and every inch of land north of there. Temperatures in the low- to mid-20s are possible down to the northern Gulf Coast, teens well into northern Alabama and the Carolinas, with single-digit temperatures likely around the Great Lakes.

Temperatures will quickly rebound for most folks by the middle of next week as a ridge builds across much of the country.