A potent storm system will continue to track across the Northeast during the early Saturday morning hours, with heavy snow, mixed precipitation, rain, and strong winds impacting a large swath of the region through the afternoon.
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After breaking several all-time low-pressure records throughout the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, the low will continue weakening as it moves through the interior Northeast, as a secondary, coastal low develops and tracks along the East Coast on Saturday.
In the meantime, heavy snow will continue across Upstate New York and New England, with an additional 3-6" possible in interior areas before the snow lightens or changes to mixed precipitation as warm air surges northward.
Further east, in coastal sections of New England, snowfall rates will intensify as the secondary low deepens, with 8-12" of snow forecast across southern Maine and New Hampshire through Saturday afternoon.
Areas further south, including central Massachusetts and the Boston metro area, will remain near or along the rain/snow line for much of the event, with mixed precipitation expected through the early Saturday morning hours.
In the wake of the system, strong winds will impact much of the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley over the next 12 hours before subsiding late Saturday as the system tracks offshore, resulting in widespread Wind Advisories and localized High Wind Warnings across the region.
As the Northeast clears out, temperatures throughout the eastern half of the country will remain unseasonably warm through Monday, with high temperatures approaching 10-20 degrees F above average across the central and southern Plains on Saturday and Sunday.
Conversely, temperatures will remain unseasonably cold in the western region as persistent upper-level troughing continues to promote cool and unsettled weather.
The next West Coast storm system will track southward across the Pacific Northwest and California on Saturday, producing moderate to heavy precipitation along coastal portions of the region, with heavy snow possible in the higher terrains of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges.
An additional several feet of snow will be possible in these areas, with the heaviest of these totals likely in the northern Sierra Range.
On Sunday, precipitation will spread inland, with heavy snow possible in the higher terrains of the Intermountain West.
The system will then track eastward, with a deepening surface low developing in the lee of the Rockies, before moving northeastward through the northern Plains.
Warm, moist air surging northward behind a lifting warm front will lead to showers across the Corn Belt, with light to moderate snow possible on the northern fringe of the precipitation shield late Sunday into the early Monday morning hours. ■
Modified arctic air combined with a moisture-laden area of low pressure along the Gulf Coast will continue to allow for a broad area of winter weather impacts from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast today into early Saturday morning.