Hot on the heels of a record Northeast snowstorm, another, even bigger system is now winding up over the Plains and is set to dump a LOT of snow over the US heartland east through the Ohio Valley into the Northeast next 36 hours.

Latest radar.

Note the shield of moderate to heavy snow extending from central Kansas to northern Ohio, that snow’s edges into the interior Northeast tonight and through tomorrow fills in throughout the region with 3-6″ expected from Philly north while it winds down over Kansas.

Current temps show the sharp gradient and how cold the air is feeding the northern flank of the system.

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There’s already reports of 11-12 inches down in Kansas and I expect to hear similar if not slightly however totals through southern/central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania will all’s said and done. This will be a bigger hitter for the interior Northeast including New England. Given what’s to the north, expect a southward plunge of bitter cold in the wake of the system.

The national snow cover sure is filling in nicely too with all these storms. National coverage has reached 61.2%, second highest of the season and I’m pretty sure we’re gonna add to that now through Sunday. If coverage doesn’t expand, depth most certainly will.

Quick look at the ECMWF surface charts.

 

 

Like with the last system, once it’s off the playing field, the other is already crossing California bringing more much needed moisture.

ECMWF snowfall through 48 hrs

Here comes the next system..

While initial energy crosses southern plains, secondary forms off Carolinas and Virginia and bombs out, this setup with incoming arctic air and Gulf and Atlantic moisture involvement, it looks like the weekend system will be the big one for the Big Eastern cities.

ECMWF snowfall through 120 hrs

GFS

Mid-Month Pattern Flip?

The AO is showing signs of going positive with CFSv2 showing large scale height falls throughout the arctic with warming by mid month over the Lower 48, tough to say given amount of snowpack building whether the models are too fast at kicking the cold out but looks like there’s hints of a flip coming around the 15th. More on that in the coming days!

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