WeatherFanatics: Kansas to Maine: Snowstorm to Impact More Than 100 Million

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Kansas to Maine: Snowstorm to Impact More Than 100 Million

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

February 4,2014; 5:40PM,EST

A major winter storm with heavy snow, ice and a wintry mix will reach from the central Plains to the Midwest and Northeast spanning Tuesday night and Wednesday.
It will hit barely after some people had time to dig out from two prior storms in the Midwest and the Monday storm in the Northeast.
By the time the storm has ended it will have directly affected more than two dozen states and at least 100 million people with snow and/or ice. Travel delays and disruptions to daily activities are likely. The storm will hit especially swiftly and hard over part of the central Appalachians to New England.

@AP tweeted: "Cabin fever setting in for millions as bitter cold, heavy snow and paralyzing ice storms keep pounding U.S." Additional Relevant Tweets and Social Media Reaction

The storm has the potential to drop 6 inches or more of snow on portions of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. In part of the Northeast, the bulk of the snow will fall in six hours or less.

Some areas are expected to see more than a foot of snow from northeastern Pennsylvania to southern New Hampshire.

The storm was hitting Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois Tuesday.
There is a long list of major cities that can receive enough snow to shovel and plow. These include Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; Chicago; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Detroit; Boston; Scranton, Pa.; Hartford, Conn.; and Buffalo, N.Y.
Accumulating snow will also fall on the Canada cities of Toronto, Montreal and St. John, New Brunswick.
A long stretch of the I-70, I-80 and I-81 corridors will be hit by the storm as it rolls northeastward.

The bulk of the storm will hit the Midwest Tuesday night and the Northeast late Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Winds may be strong enough to cause blowing and drifting snow near the end of the storm over parts of the Central states and Northeast during Tuesday night and Wednesday.
A zone of wintry mix, snow changing to rain, or a period of ice will occur with the storm south and east of the heavy snow area.
In a narrow zone, as the snow becomes more wet and heavy or changes to ice, there is the potential for downed trees and power outages. The area where this is most likely to occur will reach from eastern Oklahoma to a large part of Arkansas, along the Ohio River, part of the I-81 corridor in the central Appalachians and the I-95 corridor from the northern mid-Atlantic to southern New England. This includes the area around Little Rock, Ark., Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York City.

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In some cases, the rain will wash away the newly fallen snow, which can lead to urban flooding.
Even at airports not directly affected by heavy wintry precipitation, there is the potential for rounds of flight delays and cancellations with this storm.
Additional major winter storms and associated disruptions to travel and daily activities will follow through at least the middle of the month approximately every two to four days.
The amount of snow on the ground may build to and beyond a couple of feet in some areas of the central Plains, Midwest and Northeast.
One particular storm bears watching in the East Sunday into Monday.

However, at least the next storm in the train will have a bit more separation and may offer more time to prepare, compared to the storms during the first half of this week.

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