Just as thousands and thousands of Americans begin to travel over the river and thru the woods to grandmother’s house, there’s growing confidence that a major winter storm will develop later this week and impact a big swath of the country, based on the FOX Forecast Center.
“Our confidence is growing, and what which means is that there’s more agreement on the forecast data, so the numerous winter storm becomes more likely,” FOX Weather meteorologist Amy Freeze said. “The timing right away is that this might last into Christmas weekend. For some, it’s a nightmare. For others, this may very well be dreaming of a white Christmas come true.”
With the storm still several days away, details remain highly uncertain as a result of a large spread of potential scenarios depicted in forecast models — typical in forecasts this far prematurely. Here’s what the FOX Forecast Center is watching to date.
“It’s a major winter storm, bringing rain, wind and snow and causing travel issues,” Freeze said. “However the heavy snow and robust wind, strong wind, I can’t emphasize that enough, can really disrupt the travel and perhaps even take out some power.”
Light to moderate snow will first develop on Wednesday across the Northern Rockies and northern Plains ahead of an arctic cold front that will probably be charging south out of Canada, based on the FOX Forecast Center.
That snow will then spread south and east ahead of a front Wednesday night and can likely reach the central Plains and Upper Midwest on Thursday morning.
That snow will probably be accompanied by strong winds, which may lead to some treacherous travel from Kansas to Wisconsin.
From there, the main points of this high-impact winter storm have gotten clearer.
In accordance with the FOX Forecast Center, models are coming into agreement that show a robust low pressure system developing across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
Should this come to pass, heavy snow and robust winds will slam an area that stretches from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes on Thursday night, Friday and even possibly into Saturday.
Along the Eastern Seaboard and into Recent England, heavy rain and potentially damaging wind gusts could knock out power to 1000’s.
But there’s still a probability that the low pressure system could wait to develop, which might bring the Southeast and Northeast into play for impactful snow, but as time passes this scenario is looking less likely, based on the FOX Forecast Center.
The underside line is: A highly impactful winter storm is probably going toward the top of the week. Those living or traveling to and from the eastern third of the country must pay close attention to the forecast because it becomes locked in over the approaching days.