A powerful winter storm is set to blast portions of the USA with accumulating snow, cold temperatures, strong winds and rain just as millions of people across the country prepare to travel early for Thanksgiving.
The first widespread winter storm of the season is the second in a pair of storms set to sweep across the U.S. this week.
The first storm system already produced severe weather on Monday across the southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley, including several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and Tornado Warnings in portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
According to the Denton County Office of Emergency Management in Texas, strong winds knocked over at least two tractor-trailers on Interstate 35, including one that fell onto a pickup truck, in the city of Denton.
Emergency officials said the southbound side of the interstate was closed while first responders investigated the incident.
A video recorded in the community of Weatherford, Oklahoma, showed strong winds blowing and torrential rain falling across the region when the severe weather blew through early Monday morning.
And a photo posted by the Somervell County, Texas, Fire Department, showed a trailer that was blown over onto its side when strong winds moved through that area.
As the storm system moves off to the north this week, arctic air will collide with the storm, setting the stage for widespread snow across the Dakotas and potentially into portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Strong winds are expected to develop on the western side of the system on Tuesday, with wind gusts reaching 50-60 mph in the Dakotas.
The FOX Forecast Center said that travel along Interstate 29 from Fargo, North Dakota, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Interstate 94 from Fargo to Bismarck, North Dakota, could be hazardous as the rain transitions to snow.
On Wednesday, cities such as Minneapolis, as well as Green Bay and Milwaukee in Wisconsin, will be on alert for the potential of snow showers throughout the day as colder air wraps around the storm system.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, the second storm could have a more widespread impact, especially as people plan on traveling ahead of Thanksgiving.
A powerful low-pressure system is expected to form in the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes region and will rapidly develop.
This new low will significantly intensify as it spins over the Great Lakes later this week, bringing the threat of high winds across the region into the eastern USA.
As the storm drifts off into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast toward the end of the week, trailing winds are expected to bring in enough cold air to support a large band of snow somewhere in the Ohio River Valley.
The coldest air will be on the southern side of the system and blow into the Appalachian Mountains.
It’s that area, according to the FOX Forecast Center, where snowfall is possible across portions of the Ohio Valley, the northern mid-Atlantic and the interior Northeast from the end of the week into the weekend.
However, forecasters said there is still substantial uncertainty about the amount of cold air available for snow.
For now, the National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Watches for the mountains of eastern West Virginia and the western Maryland Panhandle from Thursday afternoon through Saturday evening.
There’s also the threat of lake-effect snow, but it will be hit-or-miss depending on how the low-pressure system tracks, according to the FOX Forecast Center. As it stands now, the air may be too warm to support lake-effect snow.
The inclement weather at the end of the week and into the weekend across the Northeast does have the potential to snarl air and road travel just as the Thanksgiving travel week gets underway.
Rain in the Northeast could be heavy at times, but as of now the FOX Forecast Center doesn’t expect there to be flash flooding in the region due to the recent record-dry conditions.
However, it does bring much-needed rain to the region, which will help with the ongoing wildfire threat.
Out West, a powerful bomb cyclone associated with a major atmospheric river is expected to soak the region from California to Washington this week, and that could lead to flooding.
The term bomb cyclone comes from the meteorological term bombogenesis or explosive cyclogenesis. This happens when a storm system’s central pressure drops at least 24 millibars within 24 hours.
A big stream of moisture is set to arrive on Tuesday night and is likely to stick around through late in the week, possibly into the weekend, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Fox Weather Channel / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
Thanksgiving is a more than a week and a half away. I’m not sure what it is like where you live but around here, they change the weather forecast every 15 minutes for today and tomorrow. I’m sure they do not know what is going to happen that far out.
Won’t be traveling any further than my smokers and coolers in the backyard. Family is close by, so we’re good. Enjoy your turkey day next week.
I’m so excited for Thanksgiving because I can finally have time for myself. I don’t have to work that day or day after Thanksgiving. I can catch up on my hobbies and focus on my happiness.