00:00Melissa, let's talk about all of the people who are going to be impacted because that's part of what makes this such a big deal.
00:06It is really millions of Americans, unfortunately, impacted by the storm in one way or another.
00:10And even if you're not, if you live east of the Rockies, you're at least going to get the cold.
00:15And this is one of the key components of this storm.
00:18So we've talked about the storm now for at least a week here at AccuWeather.
00:22We've been eyeing up this Arctic air mass.
00:24And the question had been all along, how strong will this cold air be?
00:28How dominant will it be?
00:30And the answer is we were expecting it to stay very strong and keep things to the south.
00:35And that trend has lifted a little farther north.
00:38So that's why we have had that forecast track lift a little farther north, too.
00:42But it is ultimately that Pacific energy coming in and clashing with this warm air.
00:46Lots of moisture getting thrown up over the cold air mass that's helping to create this snow and ice storm.
00:53So we've got a lot to cover.
00:55And let's just start off with a look here at what's going on.
00:58You do have the snowfall here across the plains.
01:01And as this continues to break out, you will see that it does take some time to get going here.
01:05But as we go through tonight and into tomorrow morning, plenty of snow out there through states like Missouri,
01:12even into Kansas and Oklahoma, already stretching into Tennessee and Kentucky.
01:16On the southern side, though, that's where we're particularly concerned with that icing threat.
01:21And as this moves along, it becomes almost like two different storm systems.
01:25You have two pieces of energy still pulling in that moisture.
01:27There will be some potential for severe weather on the southern side.
01:31But look at how far that shield of moisture is stretching into this cold air mass.
01:36Again, the cold really trying to dominate with this high up here and really feeding into why this storm can create such a long swath of snow.
01:46It takes some time for the storm system to move east.
01:48And that second one does catch up to the first low as it strengthens offshore.
01:53That's why we'll see a lot of lifting in the atmosphere to help create that snow here throughout the northeast and New England
01:58and lead to some of the highest totals, Anna.
02:01So that means I hope you have the snowblowers and shovels ready.
02:04And it's not just snow that we're talking about with this storm.
02:07I mean, we saw the pink.
02:09We saw the green.
02:10It's all types of precipitation.
02:12Let's dive into a little bit more of what to expect with the snow, and then we'll break down the ice.
02:17Yeah, starting with the snow, we do have a good swath here of 6 to 12 inches of snow.
02:22And then if you look right in here, we're talking about that darkest shading here being 10 to 15 inches of snow.
02:30It's just outside of New York City around the 287 interstate there.
02:34So you can see there's quite a bit of areas here that could pick up more than a foot of snow is what we're looking at here with this forecast.
02:42And snow is one thing that will really slow down a lot of travel throughout the region.
02:46And, of course, these snowfall totals piling up first in those western locations more towards Sunday and Monday as you get into portions of New England.
02:53So that's really where we're eyeing up the snow potential.
02:56The ice is further south.
02:58And, Anna, I think this is really what's pretty dangerous here.
03:00And we have tracked this a little farther north, Anna.
03:03Yeah, there's a lot to talk about with the ice.
03:05First of all, the impact.
03:07We're talking power outage is possible.
03:09We're talking very dangerous road conditions.
03:11But people are going to get a mix of sleet and freezing rain.
03:14And some people just don't know the difference.
03:16So let's break it down.
03:18Yeah, that's one of the things that we do need to focus in on.
03:21So we do have these extreme areas of ice.
03:23Some of this will lead to a half an inch to an inch of accumulation.
03:27And that can be two different types of ice.
03:29As Anna was mentioning, there's two types here.
03:31We'll break down sleet because I think that gives you an idea.
03:34And that's the one that might be hardest to understand.
03:36Sleet almost falls as snow.
03:38It's little ice pellets.
03:39And what happens is it starts in the sky as snow.
03:43And then as it falls, there's a little bit of warm air.
03:45I told you that that storm system, basically the cold air is biting its way into the nation.
03:50And then that warm air is coming up from the south.
03:52So you get this wedge layer up over that cold air.
03:55And this is a battleground that's occurring.
03:57It's enough to melt the edges of those snowflakes.
03:59And then it refreezes as it falls into that colder air below from that arctic high to the north.
04:05And so because that cold is so persistent and dense, it stays towards the ground.
04:08And it really helps to create these sleet balls to keep falling from the sky, unfortunately.
04:13And that's why we can see such widespread sleet.
04:16It's also why if you get a little bit more of a warm layer here in and less of a cold layer, it can lead to freezing rain.
04:24That's where you get that glaze of ice on surfaces.
04:26So both of these are occurring with this.
04:29The freezing rain is especially dangerous, Anna, because it leads to this map here of power outages.
04:34And this could be really challenging, especially as we go into next week, Anna.
04:39Yeah, we're talking about not only widespread power outages there, but these could last for a couple of days.
04:45And the reason for that is the cold air that sticks around.
04:49Yeah, we are talking about numbers in some locations staying below freezing for several different days.
04:55So this is where if you are stuck at your house without power, you can't travel around because the ice is still out there.
05:03Mother Nature is not going to be melting this anytime soon.
05:06The early week here will provide a lot of these numbers staying not only below historical averages,
05:10but like I said, in some places here throughout parts of Virginia into Tennessee,
05:14we could be dealing with days below freezing, several hours below freezing.
05:19So this is why it's so important to have a safe, safe way to heat your home,
05:24even if the power is out for three, maybe even five days, Anna.
05:27So, Melissa, for people in the southeast, they still have time to make final preparations.
05:32Let's talk about what are the last minute things they should be doing.
05:35Some of the things that you should need, of course, having the food and water for several days,
05:39but also making sure that, again, you have a way to heat your home and protect those pipes
05:43in case freezing temperatures come in.
05:46All right, Melissa, Constanzer, we'll have more after this.
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