A pair of winter storms will bring snowy weather to two separate parts of the country Wednesday and Thursday. Neither event is expected to be overly disruptive, forecasters say, but each could cause some minor travel issues as flakes fly.
The two areas that will be affected by winter precipitation are parts of the Northeast and the Colorado Rockies.
Elsewhere, record high temperatures were expected Tuesday in parts of the South, and a combination of smoke and fog was blamed for another fatal traffic accident in New Orleans.
Target snow and ice northeast
The northeasterly winter storm will primarily affect upstate New York and northern New England starting later Wednesday and continuing through early Thursday.
Cities like Burlington, Vermont; Manchester, New Hampshire; Portland, Maine, is among the locations likely to catch a small wintry mix from the storm later Wednesday night into Thursday, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
“A little ice could make some surfaces slippery in Albany, New York, and Worcester, Massachusetts,” he added.
“Accumulation will be light… but there is a possibility of some slippery conditions,” the National Weather Service forecast office in Gray, Maine, said. As of Tuesday afternoon, no winter weather warnings or winter storm watches have been posted for the storm.
Toward the south, including New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, the air will be a bit too warm for any ice or snow, Sosnowski said.
Snow is also expected in Colorado
Another snow event is on the way for Colorado, including the Denver metro area.
Denver's second snowfall in just over a week is preparing as another batch of cold air approaches the area, AccuWeather said.
“This particular snow event coming Wednesday night into Thursday morning will likely be much less intense for the Denver metro area than the heavy snowfall since late October,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Wimmer said.
He said the storm will likely bring up to an inch of layering across the metro area with 3 to 6 inches to the west over the foothills and 6 to 12 inches along the Front Range. Area motorists and airline passengers traveling through Denver International Airport could see some travel delays Thursday morning.
By Thursday, “the weather system will move southeast into the area with light snow ending up over higher terrain during the morning,” the Denver Weather Service said.
Record warmth in the south
While parts of the northern tier of the country will experience winter-like weather, summer warmth will be the main story in the south over the next couple of days.
Air flowing southward across the central and southeastern United States will bring unusual warmth across much of the Great Plains to the East Coast before a cold front sweeps through Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
Many places from the Southern Plains to central and southern Appalachia could see record high temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday with readings in the 80s from Arizona to Virginia.
Another fatal accident in New Orleans amid smoke and fog
Heavy smoke reminiscent of last month's “massive smog” that swept across Louisiana led to a fatal crash that shut down Interstate 10 in the New Orleans area early Tuesday, police said.
One person was killed and several others were taken to hospital after a traffic accident that occurred around 4:30 am.
Several fires burned in the area, and the weather service issued a warning for heavy smoke. Meteorologists also indicated the presence of “limited fog” in the area.
The smoke had largely cleared by noon, but conditions remained foggy, according to the weather service. The highway is expected to remain closed until late this afternoon, Weather.com reported.
“This was another example of how dangerous weather can occur in the absence of a storm,” said Jonathan Erdmann, chief meteorologist at Weather.com.
Contributing: The Associated Press
