The major weather story to span across the continental United States over the next few days will be mainly associated with a strengthening storm system to eject into the central Plains early Thursday.
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This low pressure system is then forecast to deepen and push northeastward into the Upper Great Lakes by Friday.
To the northwest of this low, a swath of heavy snow is possible and could lead to dangerous travel at times.
Heavy snow is anticipated to occur throughout the central Rockies tonight, with accumulations of 1 to 2 feet possible over the southern Colorado Rockies.
As the system moves east, a stripe of locally heavy snow may extend from northeast Nebraska to the U.P. of Michigan between Thursday and Friday.
These regions have the greatest chances for over 4 inches of snowfall.
Combined with gusty winds, snow-covered roads and reduced visibility could create difficult travel.
The heaviest snow is anticipated over northeast Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the U.P. of Michigan, where 1 to 2 feet of snow is expected.
On the warm side of this system, moist southerly flow out out of the Gulf of Mexico will interact with an approaching cold front to spark numerous showers and thunderstorms from the southern Plains to the lower Mississippi Valley between Thursday and Thursday night, with the cold front shifting the thunderstorm threat to the Southeast and eastern Gulf Coast on Friday.
Thunderstorms may contain large hail, damaging wind gusts, and a few tornadoes from northeast Texas, southern Oklahoma and into the ArkLaTex region.
The Storm Prediction Center has issues an Enhanced Risk (level 3/5) of severe thunderstorms to further highlight the threat in this area.
Intense rainfall rates are also possible with the developing thunderstorms, which could produce scattered instances of flash flooding around the ArkLaTex.
In regards to temperatures, below average and subfreezing low temperatures across the Southeast on Thursday morning could damage vegetation and any unprotected outdoor plumbing.
Freeze Warnings and Frost Advisories stretch from Alabama to northern Florida and much of the Carolinas.
After Thursday morning, a brief warm up is expected ahead of an approaching cold front forecast to swing through Friday night.
The aforementioned cold front is forecast to usher in temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below average across much of the central U.S. by the end of the week.
Lows into the 20s and 30s are forecast to sink as far south as central Texas, with widespread highs throughout the northern Great Plains only reaching the teens. ■
A clipper system will move quickly across the northern Plains into the Midwest Friday and the Northeast by Saturday, bringing a wintry mix of rain and snow showers ahead of a sweeping cold front.