Coast-to-coast winter storm to blast millions with threats of blizzard conditions, icing across 35 states

A significant and disruptive winter storm will impact millions of Americans from coast-to-coast this week, with heavy snow, blizzard conditions, significant icing, flooding and severe weather all being possible.

FOX Weather meteorologist Jason Frazer said an area of high pressure will be sitting across the Southeast while an area of low pressure will be sitting atop the Southwest. That will pull warm, moist air from the south. Arctic air will then funnel in as the jet stream dives south, setting the stage for a major winter storm across the northern tier of the U.S.

Let’s break down each day and threat to better understand this complex winter storm.

Winter weather alerts

An estimated 31 million Americans are now under some sort of winter weather alert, and that number will grow as the week continues.

Winter Storm Warnings stretch from Washington to California, as well as from Nevada to Montana.

Blizzard Warnings are in effect for portions of southern Wyoming.

Winter Storm Watches are in effect from Arizona in the Southwest to the Plains and Upper Midwest.

Timing

Precipitation will fall Tuesday from places like Seattle and Medford, Oregon, and temperatures will remain in the low to mid-40s. Colder air will be in place farther east, like in Billings, Montana, where snow is expected with a high temperature in the upper 30s. Bismarck, North Dakota, will be the cold spot with a high temperature of only about 11 degrees.

More people will be affected by the winter storm as we head into Wednesday. 

The storm will be spinning across the Plains, with snow falling to the west, rain in the southern portion of the storm and ice across parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region before creeping into portions of the Northeast.

The storm will continue to spin off to the east by Thursday, bringing heavier snow to the Midwest and Great Lakes region, while precipitation will fall in the Northeast and New England.

How much snow is expected?

According to the FOX Forecast Center, there is growing confidence that more than a foot of snow could fall across portions of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest, including the possibility of blizzard conditions.

Between 5 and 8 inches of snow is expected across the Upper Midwest and upper Great Lakes Region, with some areas, like central Minnesota, seeing more than a foot. In addition, between 8 and 12 inches of snow could fall elsewhere across portions of the US stretching from the Dakotas to Michigan.

Regardless of snow accumulations, blowing and drifting snow will make travel nearly impossible in those regions due to whiteout conditions, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

Anyone living or working in the dozens of states affected by this storm should expect road closures, shuttered schools and significant impacts on air travel.

Of course, any changes to the storm track this week could affect snow and ice totals. Be sure to download the free FOX Weather app and enable notifications to be alerted to any changes in the forecast.

How much ice is expected?

As the warmer air overrides the cold air along a front, a relatively narrow corridor of freezing rain, sleet and a wintry mix is expected Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Major disruptions because of the ice are possible from Iowa to New York.

According to the FOX Forecast Center, the exact timing of this impact is still coming into focus. Still, the possibility of destructive ice accretion is possible in major cities like Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, New York.

Anywhere north and west of that ice threat is expected to see heavy snow, but there remains some uncertainty about how far south or north the ice will be located.

How high will the winds be?

Strong winds will be an issue during this storm, and concerns are growing that power outages could be an issue. Heavy wintry precipitation, like snow and ice, combined with the stronger winds could bring trees down onto power lines, leading to power outages. 

Winds could gust between 50 and 60 mph across portions of the Great Lakes, including the Chicago area, southern Michigan, and parts of the Ohio Valley. However, a larger area affecting millions more people from Iowa through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio could see winds gusting between 40 and 50 mph.

Severe weather, flooding threat

While the snow, ice and winter weather will affect a larger portion of the country, an area of America’s heartland will be under the threat of flooding and severe weather in the middle of the week.

Heavy rain is likely across much of the central U.S., and severe weather is possible in the same region hit hard by severe weather last week.

According to the FOX Forecast Center, the area most at risk of flooding on Wednesday and Thursday includes major cities such as Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Overall, between 2 and 3 inches of rain will be possible, and there’s an isolated chance of flash flooding throughout central Illinois as the storm system spins through the region.