A sharp November cold snap and a developing storm system are set to send temperatures plunging across the eastern half of the country and bring the season’s first snow to parts of the Northeast, forecasters said Tuesday.
A deep dip in the jet stream will steer Arctic air southward starting Wednesday, reaching from the Canadian border all the way to the Gulf Coast by the end of the week, CBS News reported. The sudden shift is forecast to pull temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below seasonal averages. Daytime highs will likely struggle to exit the mid-30s and 40s from Thursday through the weekend across a broad area, while overnight feels-like readings are expected to dip near or below freezing in major metropolitan areas such as Chicago and Atlanta.
Midwest System Tracks East
As the cold air settles in, an independent weather system developing over the Midwest on Wednesday is expected to strengthen as it pushes toward the Atlantic seaboard. Rain is anticipated to stretch from Georgia to Michigan by Wednesday night, according to meteorologists at The Weather Channel, reported by Business Insider.
By Thursday night, precipitation will spread across the interior Northeast. Forecasters expect the rain to mix with or transition into wet snow across inland and elevated terrain, including upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and stretches of the Appalachian Mountains. For many communities in these higher elevations, the disturbance could deliver the first accumulating snowfall of the season.
In contrast, major metropolitan hubs along the Interstate 95 corridor are not projected to see snow. Cities including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., are forecast to remain above freezing, resulting in a cold, soaking rain rather than wintry accumulation, CBS News reported.
Nor’easter Threat and Weekend Outlook
Forecasters are closely tracking the potential development of a nor’easter as the initial system moves toward the Atlantic coastline. A nor’easter is a coastal storm that forms along the East Coast and typically produces strong winds from the northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
A secondary, smaller low-pressure center could form off the primary storm once it reaches the Mid-Atlantic region, CBS News reported. Depending on how close that system stays to land, it could produce strong winds, heavy coastal rainfall, and minor to moderate coastal flooding from the Mid-Atlantic up through coastal New England. The region last experienced a nor’easter in September, which brought damaging winds and widespread power disruptions to tens of thousands of utility customers.
Meteorologists noted that predicting the precise impacts of coastal systems several days in advance remains challenging. The weekend track of the secondary low will ultimately determine rainfall amounts along the coast, exact snow accumulations in interior mountain areas, and the degree of shoreline flooding. Meanwhile, the chill will linger well south, with temperatures in the 30s potentially reaching the Florida Panhandle by the weekend.
