Forecasters on Thursday warned of a powerful storm that will affect the eastern region of the U.S. into the Christmas holiday, bringing snow, heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts, along with severe thunderstorms in the South.
Rain will morph into snow west of the Appalachians and in the Great Lakes while heavy rainfall and snowmelt could lead to flooding in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast along with high winds, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The storm was expected to bring a cold front through the Southeast through Thursday with “ingredients needed to produce intense thunderstorms,” with nearly 5 million people under a thunderstorm threat, said AccuWeather meteorologist Maura Kelly.
Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes were possible in eastern Carolinas and Southeast Virginia.
There was a slight risk of excessive rainfall from the Appalachians to the Northeast and a moderate risk in parts of Pennsylvania and New York through Thursday evening with the potential to travel east Friday.
The widespread rain coupled with the “relatively fresh snowpack from the nor’easter last week” could lead to rapid snowmelt, the weather service said, adding to flooding concerns from meteorologists.
Moreover, the added weight from the rain on top of snow covered roofs in areas from north-central Pennsylvania to Vermont and warmer temperatures elevates the risk for flooding, according to the weather agency.
Many areas in the Northeast could experience between 1 to 3 inches of rain that will fall gradually Thursday into Friday, said Brian Hurley, senior meteorologist for the NWS Weather Prediction Center.
Mr. Hurley said temperatures in the East will be taking a “nosedive” Friday, with high temperatures hovering in the 30s in the morning but then falling later in the day. The weather will be “pretty chilly,” but seasonably cold Friday and Saturday.
Small streams, creeks and rivers might still be flooding in the D.C. region on Christmas Day, said Brendon Rubin-Oster, an NWS meteorologist in Sterling, Virginia.
In addition, an arctic cold front is expected to pass through Thursday night, he warned, meaning most areas will struggle to get above the low 30s Friday.
Strong winds of 30 to 40 mph out of northwest could hit the area on and off Friday, Mr. Rubin-Oster added, urging residents to bundle up and to prepare for colder weather and blustery winds.
The Upper Great Lakes area over the next couple of days could see 6 to 12 inches of snow in some areas before the lake effect shifts northwest and eventually west, said Mr. Hurley.
Several inches of snow fell in Michigan on Thursday with the potential of accumulating more than a foot near Lake Erie and a projected 4 to 8 inches heading into eastern portions of the Ohio Valley and into the Central Appalachians. Those areas could see light freezing rain.
Due to the strong front, temperatures will be 15 to 25 degrees below normal as it moves from central U.S. to the east. Chances of precipitation are higher for the Northwest on Friday into Saturday as a couple of frontal systems migrate.
On Wednesday, a snowstorm hit the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota and moved east, grounding flights and shutting down several highways. The weather service had issued blizzard warnings for the area and forecasted wind chills to fall to 35 degrees below zero.
• Shen Wu Tan can be reached at stan@washingtontimes.com.
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