A storm across the country could bring severe weather next week
FOX Meteorologist Steve Bender explains the forecast for a powerful storm expected to cross the United States next week.
The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a potentially dangerous storm system that is expected to impact most, if not all, of the lower 48 states next week with some form of precipitation, including the potential for severe weather, heavy mountain snow, and rain.
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The event begins Sunday in the western United States and will eventually spread across the country, finally affecting the East Coast by Thursday.
“We have some energy, believe it or not, that's on its way north of the Aleutian Island chain in Alaska,” FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen said. “But by next week it will dive right down the coast of Canada into the Pacific Northwest, eventually turning into a low pressure area north of the Rocky Mountains.”
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The Fox Forecast Center said the storm will be colder, which will bring down snow levels and allow snowfall to accumulate across the western mountain ranges of the United States.
This is especially beneficial in the northwest and will be the most significant storm since January. The snowpack there is about 50% of average, so the snow expected from this storm could enhance that.
More rain is also expected in California, and although rainfall amounts are expected to be much lower than what the state just experienced from a multi-day weather storm last week, there will be a threat of more landslides and mudslides as the ground… Steep. saturated.
High winds are also expected across the interior west behind some cold fronts moving through the region on Monday and Tuesday, the FOX Forecast Center said.
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“It will be a deep trough, which means it will be accumulating in the atmosphere,” Van Deelen said. “This allows moisture and heat to escape from the Gulf of Mexico.”
This will pave the way for the possibility of severe thunderstorms developing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Chicago and St. Louis are at risk for severe weather Tuesday
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has already highlighted areas of concern on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week where strong to severe thunderstorms are likely to develop.
“Usually the end of February is where we have the best chance of seeing an atmospheric setup that will produce a lot of severe weather,” FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “So the timing, you know, isn't that shocking. We'll see how it goes next week.”
More than 21 million people from Chicago and Aurora, Illinois, through St. Louis in the Midwest to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, were placed under Level 2 out of 5 on the SPC's 5-point severe thunderstorm risk scale.
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The risk of severe weather shifts Wednesday to Indianapolis, Columbus and Nashville
The severe weather threat is changing and expanding by Wednesday to include more than 30 million people from the Mississippi Valley and southeastern Ohio Valley.
The SPC placed cities like Indianapolis and Columbus in Ohio, Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, and St. Louis at level 2 out of 5 risks on Wednesday.
“When we have day 4 and day 5 forecasts through the Storm Prediction Center, they usually end up getting more aggressive in their language as we get closer,” Merwin said. “And this is a setup we've been talking about behind the scenes for some time now.”
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As the storm across the country continues to move eastward, there may be another area of concern for severe weather, but the Sudanese Environment Committee had not issued such a forecast as of Thursday.
The system will then reach the East Coast later in the week. By then, the FOX Forecast Center said most, if not all, of the lower 48 states will see some form of precipitation from this storm system.
