Snow to Sweep Across Central, Eastern US With Travel Delays

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

February 25,2015; 10:27PM,EST

 

 

A swath of snow will quickly cause slippery travel across the Plains and Midwest and could join up with a southern storm to drop snow in the Northeast into Thursday.
The snow is associated with another push of arctic air and an Alberta Clipper storm.
The greatest amount of snow from the pattern into Thursday will fall centered on Iowa and the eastern slopes of the central and northern Rockies, where several inches of snow can fall in some locations.
This includes Denver, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Des Moines, Iowa.
The snow on Thursday along the Rockies will precede a large storm forecast to hit the West Friday into the weekend.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews, "Denver is closing in on a top five snowfall for February."
Denver has received 17.2 inches of snow for February 2015, as of Wednesday. The fifth-snowiest February was in 1909 and 1960, when 18.3 inches of snow fell. The top snowiest February for Denver was in 1912, when 22.1 inches of snow fell.
"Denver tends to get the most snow in the fall and spring, versus the middle of the winter," Andrews said.

Just enough snow can occur with falling temperatures around Kansas City, Missouri, Chicago and St. Louis to make travel slippery and trigger flight delays on Wednesday night into Thursday.
During Wednesday afternoon, snow swept through Omaha, Nebraska with plunging temperatures. Roads around the Omaha metro area became slushy and slippery as temperatures fell nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit in two hours. Untreated wet and slushy areas will freeze Wednesday night.
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Intermittent snow will spread to Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh during Thursday with the potential for slippery roads and sidewalks.

As the clipper storm moves into the Northeast, it will tug on the southern snowstorm.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "The storm could help pull the southern storm northward enough to spread accumulating snow into the northern mid-Atlantic coast."
An inch or so of snow is forecast around Washington, D.C. It is possible a similar snowfall or enough to make roads slippery will extend to Philadelphia and near the New York City area on Thursday.
Since temperatures will rebound slightly ahead of the next arctic push, much of the snow that falls during the midday and afternoon hours in the coastal Northeast would tend to melt on most major roads that have been treated.
Roads could be slippery for the Thursday morning commute from part of northern Virginia and eastern Maryland to southern New Jersey and Long Island.
Snow showers can bring a light coating of snow in the central Appalachians on Thursday.
In the wake of the snow, the blast of arctic air will sweep from the Midwest to the Northeast for the balance of the week.
The new surge of cold can challenge daily record lows and could place February 2015 as one of the coldest Februarys on record.