The weather pattern will be quite active across the central and eastern U.S. going through the middle of the week, as a new storm system begins to organize and strengthen across the South on Tuesday and then lifts northeast across the Mid-South and into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states by Wednesday.
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This system will follow on the heels of a coastal low still impacting the Northeast that will exit away from New England and through the Canadian maritimes tonight.
Some additional light snow may impact portions of New England, and especially Downeast Maine tonight where a couple inches of additional snow may accumulate before ending.
Colder, drier air and windy conditions will arrive across the Northeast on Tuesday in the wake of this system.
However, attention will then quickly be focused on the new storm system dropping down across the Four Corners region that will eject east and begin to strengthen across the South on Tuesday.
Low pressure is expected to lift from far southeast Texas through the lower Mississippi Valley by Tuesday night, and then across the Mid-South by early Wednesday.
By Wednesday night, deepening low pressure will cross the Ohio Valley as a new low pressure system develops over the Mid-Atlantic states.
This evolving storm track will foster a strong northward transport of warmer air and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and will set the stage for the development and northeast expansion of a broad area of moderate to heavy precipitation for many of these areas through midweek.
There will be enough cold air in place well to the northwest of the evolving low center for a swath of accumulating snow.
This will include an area from the Texas Panhandle and most of Oklahoma northeastward through large areas of the Ohio Valley, lower Great Lakes region and northern Mid-Atlantic.
Some of the heaviest snowfall should tend to be concentrated across the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, the Ozarks Tuesday night and early Wednesday, and then areas north of the Ohio River through southeast Michigan, and into New York and Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Many of these specific areas are expected to see as much as 4 to 8 inches of snow with isolated heavier amounts.
These heavier snows will be overspreading the remainder of the interior Northeast Wednesday night as low pressure arrives.
Farther south closer to the surface low track, and into the warm sector of this storm system, large areas of heavy rainfall, along with strong to severe thunderstorms will be the dominant concern.
In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has depicted an Enhanced Risk of severe weather for the middle and upper Texas coast, and from southern Louisiana eastward into the Florida Panhandle.
Strong winds and several tornadoes are expected, which includes a threat for a strong tornado.
Meanwhile, as much as 1 to 3 inches of rain with locally heavier amounts are expected across areas of southeast Texas through the lower Mississippi Valley.
This may result in some areas of flash flooding, and the Weather Prediction Center has highlighted much of this region in a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for Tuesday through early Wednesday.
Elsewhere across the continental U.S., some light snow is likely across portions of North Dakota, Minnesota, and into the northern Great Lakes as a Alberta clipper moves through the region.
It should continue to remain dry across most of California, Nevada, and Oregon with no Pacific storm systems expected and high pressure focused across much of the Intermountain West.
Patchy areas of light snow are expected over the Rockies and the Cascades.
Temperatures will generally be below average across most of the Intermountain West and the southern Plains, with above normal temperatures for much of the eastern third of the nation going through midweek. ■