After a pair of winter storms slammed both coasts with heavy snow, a massive cyclone is threatening the central and eastern United States with extreme weather as it moves across the country this week.
The storm will bring snow, rain, heavy wind and tornadoes as it makes it way from the Four Corners region, where it developed late Sunday, to the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. From Monday to Tuesday, the storm will have spread over more than thirty states across the eastern U.S.
Late Sunday, heavy snow and weather-related crashes closed large portions of highways in the Four Corners region. Officials advised people to delay any travel that was not essential. Blizzard warnings were in effect from northeast Arizona up to southern Nebraska, where up to a foot of snow had fallen by Monday morning.
The major storm will continue to develop over the Central and Southern Plains early Monday morning before it advances into the Midwest at night and into Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and powerful winds. A blizzard with wind gusts of up to 70 mph threatens whiteout conditions, making travel impossible from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles up to southwest Nebraska.
Meantime, back-to-back storms are slated to slam the Pacific Northwest with intense snowfall and strong winds. And as the large winter storm moves across the eastern U.S., the Gulf Coast region from Louisiana to northern Florida is forecast to receive intense rainfall and winds capable of kicking up tornadoes.
The series of winter storms, which has most of the country under storm warnings and advisories on Monday, follows a weekend of travel delays and power outages across the northeast after a winter storm dumped up to 13 inches of snow in areas of New York and up through Maine.
A person walks a dog as snow falls in Portsmouth, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. A major winter storm bringing up to a foot of snow and freezing rain across New England Sunday sent residents scurrying to pull out their shovels to clear sidewalks and driveways.
Severe thunderstorm warnings for Gulf Coast
Beginning Monday afternoon and into Tuesday morning, severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes are threatening the central Gulf Coast.
The storm warnings stretch from southeast Texas, across southeastern Alabama, northern Florida and parts of the Coastal Plain, according to the National Weather Service. River, coastal and flash flooding is expected for the central Gulf Coast as the storm dumps torrential rain over the region.
Areas of Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama are under threat of excessive rainfall Monday afternoon before the storm continues north into the mid-Atlantic region, where it could worsen conditions following a recent snowstorm that dumped over a foot of snow over the weekend.
Widespread wind gusts in excess of 50 mph are likely in the eastern Gulf Coast, Central Appalachians, much of the East Coast and New England. Meteorologists ask that people prepare for power outages and travel delays.
Snow, strong winds expected in Pacific Northwest
Back-to-back powerful storms will cross the Pacific Northwest Monday night and Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow and strong winds are expected.
For the Cascade Range, snow levels will rise to around 5,000 feet Monday night with an atmospheric river, the weather service said. But it will “quickly fall” to between 1,500 and 2,500 feet behind a cold front on Tuesday, which will lead to considerable impacts for many mountain passes with the second storm.
High surf and strong onshore winds are also expected early this week on the Washington and Oregon coastlines.
