What season is it? Parts of Midwest will see more snow in spring’s first week than all of winter
By Mary Gilbert, CNN Meteorologist
(CNN) — It looks like Mother Nature has her seasons mixed up as a potent, far-reaching storm gears up to unload snow, ice and severe thunderstorms on the central US this weekend.
In a seasonal role-reversal, back-to-back storms are sending some cities as much snow as they had all winter.
The first storm dropped several inches of snow from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes, beginning Thursday night and continuing into Friday morning. Snowfall totals ranged from 2 to 5 inches over the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area during that time.
Snow will persist through Friday evening over the Great Lakes before the quick-moving storm slides into the Northeast on Saturday.
The second storm will arrive in the central US on Sunday. This encore is expected to outperform its predecessor, ushering in widespread, troublesome and longer-lasting impacts.
“Disruptions to daily life” are likely as a result of this storm, the Weather Prediction Center warned on Friday.
Snow is likely to spread from the northern Rockies to the Midwest on Sunday as the storm moves from the Rockies into the Plains and strengthens. Winds will become quite gusty as the storm grows. Blowing snow could create very poor visibility, affecting travel on the ground and in the air.
Widespread snowfall totals of over half a foot are likely in multiple north-central states. Over a foot of snow is possible where the heaviest snow centers. This far in advance, it’s difficult to say exactly where these highest totals will occur, but the Dakotas and Minnesota could end up in the bull’s-eye.
Snow will continue to bury the northern US as the storm pushes east on Monday.
Minneapolis received less than a foot of snow from December through February – 2 feet short of what a typical winter brings. But what it got over the course of three months may be matched – or exceeded – in a matter of days. A similar scenario could play out in Fargo, North Dakota, and Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Sleet and freezing rain will further complicate the snowfall forecast and travel concerns Sunday and Monday.
In Iowa, precipitation could start out as snow on Sunday before mixing with sleet and turning over to rain on Monday. The opposite could occur in Nebraska, where Sunday rain could morph into an icy mix and eventually snow on Monday.
Ice buildup could make travel treacherous or weigh down power lines to their breaking point.
Damaging thunderstorms will rumble to life
Unlike the first quick-hitting storm, the storm arriving early next week will create hazards beyond snow. Cold air trailing behind the wide-reaching storm’s cold front will clash with warm, moist air in place over the South and produce severe thunderstorms Sunday and Monday.
The risk on Sunday will affect areas from Texas through Kansas. Damaging thunderstorms are expected to fire up late Sunday afternoon from central Texas to central Kansas and track slowly eastward through the evening.
Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, hail bigger than quarters and a few tornadoes are possible.
The bull’s-eye of severe thunderstorm risk will shift east on Monday and capture parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast.
Hazardous thunderstorm activity could get underway by Monday afternoon from Texas to Arkansas and expand in scope as storms track east through the evening hours.
Severe hazards are once again possible Monday.
Thunderstorms will rumble across the South on Tuesday, but the threat for widespread damaging storms appears to be limited.
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