More Snow, Ice to End February, Kick Off March in West, Plains, Midwest, Northeast (FORECAST)

Jon Erdman
Published: February 26,2015




 

March arrives Sunday. This may leave you thinking this siege of winter weather may let up soon. But another expansive stripe of snow and ice is looming starting Friday and through the weekend.
After the snowiest single month on record for parts of New England, this time the West will join in the wintry weather, along with the Plains, Midwest and Northeast.
(MORE: Expert Analysis | Winter Storm Central)

Jet Stream Setup This Weekend

West: Winter Returns

This kicks off with a major pattern change in the West.
February was largely dominated by an expansive ridge, or dome, of high pressure aloft that deflected the primary storm track into western Canada, keeping much of the region warm and dry.
Starting Friday, the jet stream will take a sharp nosedive southward into the West, eventually closing off an area of low pressure over California and Nevada this weekend.
As that happens, impulses of snow will slide down the Cascades, Great Basin and Rockies through Friday. This will include the desperately snow-starved Sierra.
Once the upper-level low closes off and stalls over California and Nevada, heavier, more persistent snow will likely be wrung out over the canyonlands of southern Utah, Mogollon Rim of Arizona, the San Juans and Sangre de Cristos of Colorado and New Mexico.
Snow will also blanket the mountains of Southern California as snow levels drop this weekend.
(FORECASTS: Lake Tahoe | Flagstaff | Santa Fe | Denver)

Current Radar

Friday's Forecast

Southern Plains Nuisance Friday

One of those upper-level impulses associated with the developing southward dip in the jet stream may spread snow into some of the same parts of north Texas and southern Oklahoma, which were just blanketed by both Winter Storms Quantum and Remus.
A fairly strong surface high pressure will still be in place over the Lower Missouri Valley Friday morning, which makes this forecast tricky. This surface high may provide enough dry air to minimize any snowfall totals as far east as the Interstate 35 corridor Friday morning.
For now, we expect less than an inch of snow Friday morning in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, northward into Oklahoma. But that forecast may change, so check back with us for what could be another slippery commute Friday in these areas.
(MORE: Is Southern Snow Unusual?)
Somewhat higher totals of fluffy snow are possible to the west over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as eastern New Mexico.
Before that, however, another impulse in that digging jet stream will bring a round of snow to eastern New Mexico and West Texas into Thursday.
(FORECASTS: Amarillo | Lubbock)

Saturday's Forecast

Sunday's Forecast

Weekend Mess

The jet stream will then send a series of disturbances rippling over the battleground between arctic cold and warmer air trying to push north. The first of these will spread a wintry mess through the Plains, Midwest and Northeast this weekend.
The maps at left show our current forecasts for Saturday and Sunday. It should be noted that we expect the majority of precipitation to push through the I-95 Northeast corridor later Sunday into Sunday night.
The lines between snow, sleet/ice, and rain are likely to shift, as is common with most forecasts three days out and beyond. While it is too soon to specify important forecast details like snowfall amounts, here is the general flavor of this weekend's mess.
Snow: 
- A stripe of moderate to locally heavy snow from the central Plains to the mid-Mississippi Valley, southern Great Lakes and interior Northeast.
- POTENTIAL CITIES: Kansas City | Chicago | Syracuse
Sleet/ice
- To the south of that stripe of snow, some sleet and/or freezing rain is possible from the central Plains into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states.
- A second pocket of light freezing drizzle may develop overnight Saturday night into Sunday morning in the southern Appalachians, possibly including the Atlanta metro area. At this time, temperatures are expected to warm above freezing during the day Sunday.
- This does not appear to be a major ice storm. Instead, impacts mainly look to be slick roads, especially bridges and overpasses, with perhaps some sporadic power outages in the extreme.
- POTENTIAL CITIES: St. Louis | Philadelphia | Atlanta
If that wasn't enough, the snowy, icy beat continues into next week, as more jet-stream energy nosedives into California, and yet another wintry mess takes shape in the Midwest and East Tuesday into Wednesday.
(MAPS: 10-day Forecast)
Check back with us at weather.com and The Weather Channel for the latest on this upcoming wintry mess.

MORE: Winter Storm Quantum Photos