Bomb cyclone to bring first widespread snow to parts of Northeast after tracking through already hard-hit Midwest
By CNN Meteorologist Briana Waxman and Chris Dolce
(CNN) — A new, quick-hitting winter storm is piling onto travel woes and shoveling duties Monday in parts of the central US that were buried over the weekend, but its next chapter could be its most notable.
The storm will strengthen rapidly into a bomb cyclone as it tracks up the East Coast to Atlantic Canada and brings the first widespread snow and ice of the season to parts of the Northeast Tuesday.
A bomb cyclone is just a storm that strengthens rapidly as measured by its pressure dropping by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. That can amp up a storm’s threats, especially wind, which will turn gusty along coastal New England.
Major cities along the Northeast’s I-95 corridor seem likely to dodge snow, but snow looks significant farther inland.
Winter weather alerts are in effect for nearly 70 million people, stretching from the Plains to Maine as the storm treks east.
This fresh round of snow and ice is underway in parts of the Central Plains and it will spread through the Midwest, southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley through Monday night. Light snow was ongoing in parts of Nebraska and Kansas Monday morning as freezing rain fell as far south as Oklahoma.
This system will bring anywhere from a fresh dusting to a few more inches of snow to Midwest and Great Lakes cities that just experienced their record-snowiest November day from a major post-Thanksgiving winter storm on Saturday, including Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin; and Springfield, Illinois.
The storm will be the first of the season for parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic once it arrives in the the East Tuesday morning. The morning commute will likely be impacted by snowy conditions in interior areas of the Northeast, including Pittsburgh and Albany and Buffalo, New York.
New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, DC, could see snow at the start Tuesday, but the flakes will likely turn to rain before snow can really accumulate.
The most snow in the Northeast is expected in northeast Pennsylvania, the upper Hudson Valley of eastern New York, western and central Massachusetts, the southern halves of Vermont and New Hampshire and eastern Maine. Some locations could pick up 6 inches or more of snowfall.
Just south of the heavy snow, warmer air sliding over cold ground could create pockets of freezing rain along the Central and Southern Appalachians. Even a thin glaze of ice in higher elevations of Virginia and North Carolina would be enough to trigger travel problems or scattered power outages.
Widespread rain and a few thunderstorms are expected on the warmer side of this storm over the South. Localized flash flooding is possible from the northern Gulf Coast to central and northern parts of Georgia.
The cold digs in for an extended stay
December marks the start of meteorological winter — which runs through February — and it will certainly feel like it well into the first week of the season. Many spots in the central and northern US will stay stuck in the teens and 20s Monday, causing new snow and ice to pile on top of what has already fallen. Gusty winds will make it feel even colder.
Once the snow and ice exit, the cold digs in even deeper. A fresh surge of Arctic air will spill across the central and eastern US late week, dropping temperatures to their lowest levels of the season so far. Some areas could flirt with daily record lows Thursday and Friday, especially across the Plains, Midwest and interior Northeast.
The upcoming Arctic blast could be a preview of more cold to come deeper into December from a disruption of the polar vortex.
The-CNN-Wire
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