Winter Storm Thor: Snow, Sleet, Ice Mess In South, Midwest, East (FORECAST)

March 4,2015



 

A final swath of snow, sleet and freezing rain from Winter Storm Thor will lead to dangerous travel from the Southern Plains into the Mid-South, Ohio Valley and East Wednesday night through Thursday.

Winter Alerts

Flood Alerts

Current Radar: South-Central States

In addition to the wintry weather, heavy rain has caused some flooding from portions of Kentucky into West Virginia. These areas will see rain transition to snow through Wednesday evening.
(MORE: Winter Storm Thor Impacts)
Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories have been hoisted in parts of the South, Ohio Valley and the East for Thor's final phase through Thursday.
All told, more than 88 million people – were under some kind of watch, warning, or advisory for winter weather related to Winter Storm Thor as of Wednesday afternoon. Of those, 60 million were under winter storm warnings stretching from Austin, Texas, to New York City and Long Island.
Below are the timing and snowfall forecasts for Thor.
(MORE: Snow, Ice and Flooding Reports and Totals)

Through Wednesday night

Wednesday Night's Forecast

The arctic front will gradually push to the south and east Wednesday evening. At the same time, an active jet stream and moisture will continue to intercept this sagging front.
(FORECASTS:  Cincinnati | Nashville | Little Rock | Dallas)
As our forecast map for Wednesday night shows, a change to snow, sleet or freezing rain is forecast to occur in a swath from the Ohio Valley to the Tennessee Valley and into the Southern Plains. This includes portions of Kentucky and West Virginia where we've seen numerous reports of flooding and road closures.
(MAP: Interactive Flood Alerts)
As temperatures fall rapidly, wet roads could turn into a sheet of ice while a significant amount of snow, sleet and freezing rain falls onto them.
(DETAILS: Winter Storm Timing for South)
If you have travel plans, bear in mind that roads may be difficult to treat as snowplows may be able to remove the snow, but not the sheet of ice underneath.
Farther east, rain should mix with or change to snow in a swath from the central Appalachians to far southern New England, including the New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas. Farther south, precipitation may transition to freezing rain or sleet, before switching to snow around sunrise in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Mainly light snow will shift south from the High Plains of eastern Colorado into eastern New Mexico, before ending Wednesday night.

Thursday

Thursday Forecast

Snowfall Forecast

Lingering freezing rain, freezing drizzle or sleet is possible Thursday morning in parts of the Deep South and Southeast.
A second area of sleet and freezing rain is possible Thursday in parts of Virginia and northern North Carolina, before changing to snow later Thursday as Winter Storm Thor exits.
(FORECASTS: Birmingham | Richmond)
Meanwhile, accumulating snow will fall from the Mid-South and parts of the Tennessee Valley into the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic states and I-95 corridor into southern New England, making for a potentially tricky pair of commutes from Boston to Washington, D.C.
(FORECASTS: Washington | Philly | NYC | Boston)
The snow will end from west to east through the day, pushing off the East Coast Thursday evening.
Here's our latest snow and ice forecast:

• Heaviest snow potential: 6 inches of snow or more is possible for parts of southeast Missouri, far southern Illinois, far southern Indiana, Kentucky, far northwest Tennessee, southern Ohio and West Virginia eastward into the Delaware Valley and New Jersey. Parts of Kentucky may see up to a foot of snow, locally.
• Accumulating snow will also blanket parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, north Texas and the Texas Panhandle. In the East, accumulating snow, generally less than 6 inches, will fall in parts of far southern New England and the Lower Hudson Valley, including the New York City metro area.
• Ice potential: Some accumulations likely from north, perhaps central Texas to parts of Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, northern Alabama, Tennessee into southern Virginia as well as northern and eastern North Carolina. Sleet accumulations may top 1 inch from parts of Arkansas and far northern Louisiana to western Tennessee, far northwest Mississippi, western Kentucky, southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina.
• Impacts: Roads will become treacherous and locally impassable in the southern Plains, Ozarks, Mid-South and parts of the Ohio Valley by Wednesday evening. Lingering icy roads are likely into Thursday in ice-affected areas. Power outages and downed tree limbs are possible in areas where freezing rain is most persistent.

For a recap of the snow and ice totals from Winter Storm Thor so far, click here.
MORE: Winter Storm Thor (Photos)