As heavy wet snow associated with a strengthening nor'easter quickly exits the northeastern U.S. through tonight, the next round of inclement weather will be developing over the northern High Plains along a quasi-stationary front.
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A wave of low pressure that is forecast to form along the front is expected to spread a quick round of accumulating snowfall across the northern Plains, upper Midwest, and the Great Lakes through the next couple of days.
A few inches of snow can be expected to accompany this system, with locally 6 inches possible over the northern Plains just north of the track of the system center.
Milder air will likely support rain closer to the system center.
Meanwhile, the next low pressure system from the Pacific Ocean will bring increasingly unsettled weather into the West Coast through the next couple of days.
Rain well ahead of this system is forecast to first reach northern California during the day on Wednesday.
The moisture will then penetrate into much of the northwestern U.S. and will begin to interact with colder air slowly filtering across the northern Rockies.
This interaction will expand the coverage of snow across much of the inter-mountains of the northwestern U.S. through the next couple of days.
The higher terrain of the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the northern Rockies are expected to receive the highest snowfall, where as much as 1 to 2 feet of heavy snow with isolated heavier amounts can be expected going through Thursday.
The remainder of the country going through the middle of the week will be rather dry and tranquil.
Temperatures for large areas of the Midwest will continue to be above normal on Wednesday, and will continue to spread toward the eastern and southern U.S. on Thursday.
In contrast, temperatures will be somewhat below normal for the Northeast and Intermountain West.
There will be the beginning of a surge of at least modified Arctic air from Canada by late Wednesday and Thursday into the northern High Plains, and this will set the stage for even colder temperatures anomalies arriving by the latter part of the week. ■