A very active, but fast-moving, weather pattern will lead to two different storms creating hazardous travel conditions for the central and eastern U.S. for the remainder of the holiday weekend.
The first worry is a storm that will quickly race up the East Coast and bring both an ice threat and a flooding threat.
The second concern is a developing winter storm in the central U.S. for Sunday, that will bring near-blizzard conditions on a busy travel day.
The combination of a storm system over the upper Midwest and a new coastal low is causing widespread precipitation Saturday morning from Minnesota to the Carolinas. The immediate concern is that some of the precipitation is falling as either freezing rain or an icy mix in the Appalachians from western North Carolina through western Maryland. This precipitation is moving north and east and the icy mix will spread into parts of Pennsylvania and southern New York later Saturday morning.
Temperatures this morning are near freezing in places like Boone, North Carolina; Roanoke, Virginia; and Hagerstown, Maryland. This can be a particularly dangerous situation as roads will appear wet, but actually be covered in ice. Ice accumulations will be rather light, but marginal situations like this can cause dramatic impacts.
The threat for icy conditions will wind down late in the morning as the region warms up.
Meanwhile, a coastal low will become stronger during the day Saturday and rapidly spread heavy rain toward the Northeast. Locally heavy rainfall, with possible flooding, will spread toward the major I-95 cities Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
The good news is the storm is moving fast, but there will be a brief period of very heavy rainfall. Rainfall totals will be 1-2 inches locally, especially in northern New Jersey and into southern New York, along with western Connecticut and Massachusetts.
By Sunday morning, the coastal low will bring heavy rain to parts of New England. As the storm is intensifying it will also bring the chance of some coastal flooding, especially along parts of the Massachusetts coast line. The storm quickly departs late Sunday morning.
A new storm will develop in the central Plains on Saturday night, which will bring snow to parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa by Sunday morning. The storm quickly races off to the north and east and will hit southern Wisconsin, most of Illinois and Michigan by Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, it appears the heavy snow and gusty winds are likely in Chicago on Sunday afternoon for a very busy travel day. This could cause flight delays and cancellations.
By Monday morning, the storm moves toward the Northeast. Fortunately, much of the Northeast will be under the influence of milder air and precipitation will stay as rain for most major cities.
However, some snow will be possible across extreme upstate New York and extreme northern New England.
Snowfall accumulations will generally be 3 to 6 inches from northeast Kansas to Michigan. Locally, over 6 inches could fall in the region.
Strong winds are also likely, with gusts of 30 to 40 mph bringing near-white out conditions. It will be extremely hazardous to travel in parts of this region on Sunday, especially on affected parts of I-35, I-80 and I-57.
But the storm is moving very fast, which should help limit the snowfall totals, and conditions improve rapidly by Sunday night.
