Ice, Flooding to Target Midwest, Northeast This Week

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

March 1,2015; 10:00PM,EST

 

 

Yet another winter storm will take aim at the Northeast and Midwest this week with widespread ice and flooding concerns.
With the storm taking a more northern track, its swath of disruptive snow will stretch from Wyoming to northern Michigan to northern Maine Monday night through Wednesday.
The door will open for warmer air to pour in south of the snowstorm, causing any snow at the storm's onset to change over to an icy mix, then rain across the rest of the Midwest and Northeast.
This ice to rain event will race in a west-to-east fashion from the Midwest to the Northeast Monday night through Tuesday night.

Enough ice to cause slippery travel for a time is expected in St. Louis; Chicago; Indianapolis; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; New York City and Albany, New York; and Boston.
Where the cold is slower to leave in the interior Northeast, the prolonged icing could lead to downed trees and power outages.
Road conditions will improve when rain replaces the ice, but motorists should continue to use caution after temperatures initially climb above freezing. Due to the recent cold, roadway temperatures may lag behind and remain slick for an extra hour or two.
The rain will bring its own issues for residents and travelers.
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Downpours and reduced visibility may lead to continued slow travel for motorists and additional flight delays.
The rain will be heavy enough and/or will combine with melting snow to trigger flooding in the lower Midwest states (including the Ohio Valley), the spine of the Appalachians, upper mid-Atlantic and southern New England.
Low-lying areas and places where snow mounds are covering storm drains will be most susceptible to flooding. Ice jams may also form on area rivers, leading to flooding on nearby property.
At first, the rain will add weight to the snow on roofs in southern New England [including the Boston area]," stated AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams.

"But as temperatures rise into the 40s, melting will occur and that will lead to some street flooding."
The milder and more spring-like weather headed to the Midwest and Northeast will only be brief. Fresh arctic air will quickly return Wednesday through Thursday.
While slowing down the snow melt and easing the flood threat, the arctic blast will arrive fast for any wet or slushy areas to freeze and turn icy.
The arrival of the colder air will also coincide with when a new batch of rain will spread from the southern Plains to the East Coast. As the cold air slams into the rain, a changeover to treacherous ice or snow will occur in a large swath from Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley to the mid-Atlantic and potentially a part of the Northeast.