One major winter storm winds down, another late-week storm is in the works

One storm down, (at least) one more to go. This next storm could be the best opportunity for southern snow we’ve had in a while. 

The major winter storm that rolled across the United States this weekend brought hefty snowfall totals and significant freezing rain to a wide swath of the country. 

The highest snowfall total reported to the National Weather Service was 18″ near Saint George, Kansas, where the storm unleashed blizzard conditions that resulted in drifts several feet deep. 

A widespread blanket of 6-12 inches of snow fell east of there, with most major cities from Kansas City to Baltimore seeing ankle-deep accumulations—more than enough to shutter schools and cancel thousands of flights to start the week. 

That storm is on its way out, now, and we’re on the lookout for the next storm hot on its heels. 

Our next system will develop courtesy of a deep upper-level trough trudging across the Rocky Mountains later this week. We’ll see a low-pressure system develop in southern Texas late Thursday into early Friday and move toward the northern Gulf of Mexico.

And that’s where the fun begins.

Well, “fun.” 

At this point, it’s likely we’ll see winter weather from the northern half of Texas east toward the Atlantic seaboard. The type of weather we see—what type of precipitation, how much, and where—will entirely depend on the track the low-pressure system takes as it lifts north and east out of Texas.  

An inland track would be a mess—slight shifts of a dozen or so miles north or south would push the rain/ice/snow line accordingly. This could leave some major cities vulnerable to a wide range of possibilities, which would be tough to narrow down until the system is only a day or two away.

A track closer to the coast could turn this into a major snowstorm from the southeast to New England, with some areas along the I-95 corridor north of Richmond potentially getting slammed with heavy snowfall.

Which track is favored? It’s still too early to tell. It sounds like a cheap answer, I know, but it’s the truth! So many little factors will play into what ultimately happens, and winter storms in this part of the country always walk a fine line between “no big deal” and “shut everything down.” 

But if you’re in Dallas, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Washington—you get the idea—this is a storm to watch. Keep a close eye on the forecasts over the next couple of days, and prepare for potential travel disruptions.

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