Over 135 million people across 35 states will be under cold weather alerts over the next several days as the mid-Atlantic and Northeast ready for another round of rain and snow, driven by a low-pressure system developing off the coast of the Carolinas.
This comes on the tail of another system that brought scattered rain and snow to parts of the East Coast on Saturday.
The heaviest snow will fall north and west of the Interstate 95 corridor, where winter alerts remain in effect for cities including Charleston, West Virginia; Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Hartford, Connecticut. Snow is expected to start falling in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area in the morning, Philadelphia and New York City by lunchtime and Boston by the afternoon.
Snowfall totals in this area are forecast to range from 5 to 8 inches through Sunday, with higher amounts likely in some areas. Snow has already started falling in parts of southern Pennsylvania, including Harrisburg and Annville.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul directed state agencies to prepare to respond to the storm, which could bring 4 to 6 inches of snow to New York City, 2 to 3 inches to Long Island and up to 10 inches to the mid-Hudson region.
“New Yorkers are no stranger to winter weather, but I encourage everyone to make sure you and your family are prepared for the snow and extreme cold, exercise caution if traveling and continue to monitor your local forecast,” Hochul said in a statement.
The snow is expected to come to an end Sunday night or early Monday morning as the system moves to the Northeast, affecting states along the I-95 corridor. Snowfall totals between 2 to 6 inches are possible.
Varying levels of cold weather alerts will be in effect across much of the country over the next couple of days as a “bitterly cold Arctic airmass” drops temperatures 10 to 40 degrees below average, according to the National Weather Service.
“Temperatures have already plummeted across the Rockies, Plains, and Mississippi Valley, and will reach the East Coast Sunday as the noted cold front pushes offshore,” the weather service said in an update Sunday morning. “This will be the coldest air of the Winter season thus far, and in many cases the coldest in several years.”
The cold weather alerts stretch from northern-tier states along the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico. The most extreme cold will grip the northern Plains and Rocky Mountains, where wind chill values will dip as low as minus 30 to minus 55 degrees.
Conditions will gradually warm closer to average temperatures by the end of the week, with highs staying 5 to 15 degrees below average in the South into next weekend.
A few record lows will also be possible during the week, including in Kansas City, Missouri; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia.
