WeatherFanatics: Series of Storms to Cause Travel Delays in East

Monday, January 13, 2014

Series of Storms to Cause Travel Delays in East

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

January 13,2014; 9:20PM,EST

A few weak storm systems staggered over several days will prevent a major snowfall from unfolding in the East this week, but wet weather will allow minor travel problems to unfold.
The three smaller storms are likely to remain separate, rather than combine forces into one large, very disruptive storm.
Into Tuesday, a fast-moving storm will cause rain to spread northeastward from the Gulf Coast to New England. Since there is no real cold air available to this storm until the last minute, most of the precipitation that falls will be in the form of rain.

Enough rain and poor visibility will occur to cause some travel delays. The heaviest rain will fall in the South, where there can be urban and poor drainage area flooding through Monday night, along with locally strong thunderstorms. Ceilings could become low enough in the coastal mid-Atlantic and New England to cause minor delays at area airports for a time on Tuesday.
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There is a slight chance the rain becomes mixed with or ends as a brief period of wet snow over the central and northern Appalachians Tuesday when cooler air begins to filter in.
During Tuesday into Wednesday, a storm from western Canada, known as an Alberta Clipper, will spread a swath of mostly light snow from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes and Appalachians.

Colder air accompanying this storm will cause enough snow to make roads slippery and potentially lead to deicing delays at airports mainly in the Midwest.
The air will likely still not be cold enough to support snow in the I-95 Northeast Wednesday from the clipper storm. However, once again, minor travel disruptions are possible due to spotty rain.
During Wednesday night into Thursday, a third storm system will swing quickly eastward across the South and offshore. While this storm will turn northward, odds are it will stay too far offshore to bring a major snowstorm.

Most likely the bulk of the third storm will stay offshore, but spotty snow could fall farther west over land.
By Wednesday night, the air would be cold enough for snow or a rain/snow mix in the coastal Northeast. Only if this third storm were to strengthen quickly would it throw a period of heavy snow back across the I-95 Northeast.
On the other hand, enough moisture may be hanging around to produce spotty snow during this time. As a result, it bears watching for possible travel delays Wednesday night into Thursday from the mid-Atlantic to New England.
Over the weekend, colder air will continue to push eastward in stages, but it will stop well short of the magnitude of the cold air from early last week.

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