Monday, Dec. 16, 2013
Several inches of snow covers along a lakeshore trail Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
After a snowstorm dropped as much as 14 inches of snow in New England, another round is on the way for the start of the week.
The weekend was filled with snow from Indianapolis to Philadelphia and Boston.
Snow totals from this storm, however, are not expected to be near a foot.
The system starts in the Midwest on Monday, but tracks into the Northeast on Tuesday when the heaviest of snow will fall.
In general, most areas will receive 1 to 3 inches of snow. However, the storm will really ramp up in New England, making 3 to 6 inches common for Providence, R.I.; Boston, Mass.; and Portland, Maine.
In these areas, snow could cause significant travel disruptions and delays from snow-covered roads and flight troubles.
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Through the middle of the week, cold air continues in New England, but milder temperatures move into the Midwest, helping to melt the snow from the last few days.
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Several storms will produce areas of rain, ice and snow with areas of dense fog which can cause trouble for travelers over the Central, Eastern and Northwestern states beginning Friday and continuing into the week of Christmas.
The atmosphere will change gears over the next week to a pattern that will briefly send warmer air into the eastern third of the nation.
The warmth will mean no snow or ice problems for millions of people in the South, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and southeastern New England. However, that warmth will also be accompanied by episodes of rain and fog that can still lead to travel delays.
According to Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "Conditions will be favorable for extensive fog to form with the warmup, even in the absence of heavy rain."
The fog could settle over long stretches of highways and delay flights for hours at some major airports.
On Friday, one storm will spread some rain and drizzle from the Ohio Valley to the central Appalachians and southern New England. Because of a cold ground, fog may form with or without snow cover and affect the cities of the cities of Pittsburgh, New York and Boston.
Farther north, from that same Friday storm, some snow and a wintry mix will reach eastward across from parts of Michigan to upstate New York and northern New England. While snowfall with this system will be considered to be minor, enough can fall to cause slippery roads.
Showers and patchy fog will also reach from the central Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians with that system Friday and Saturday.
A storm will affect the Northwest Friday into Saturday. That storm will bring some coastal rain and fog in Washington and Oregon, including Seattle and Portland, Ore. Snow changing to rain and fog will affect the passes in the Cascades for a time. Enough snow can fall over the passes in the northern Rockies into the first part of the weekend to slow travel, including along I-90.
Yet another storm is forecast to become the major weather maker prior to Christmas over the eastern half of the nation spanning Saturday to Monday.
A large swath of precipitation will develop Saturday over the South Central states and is projected to expand northeastward to New England later in the weekend and then slice eastward across the South and mid-Atlantic into Monday.
Within most of this area, rain will fall thanks to a surge of warmer air.
The rain can become heavy enough to cause urban flooding. Cities that have a chance of heavy rain include Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. With the rain will come with the potential for episodes of dense fog.
A zone of ice and snow is likely to develop on the northwestern fringe of the rain area. How close this gets to major airport hubs, such as Oklahoma City, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis is uncertain at this time.
There is also a risk of severe thunderstorms in part of the south from the second storm.
According to AccuWeather.com Severe Weather Expert Henry Margusity, "We could be looking at a severe weather outbreak including a few tornadoes beginning from central and eastern Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley with this second storm Saturday into Sunday."
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In the wake of the second storm with its rain, fog, ice and snow will follow a push of chilly air. While this is not likely to be as cold as some prior Arctic outbreaks thus far, it may get cold enough to cause wet areas to freeze.
Details on the exact location of rain, versus snow and ice, and accompanying fog on a day-to-day basis will be released on AccuWeather.com as they become available.
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Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013
The Ravens and the Vikings had to battle the snow earlier this season at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)
With Accuweather.com long-range forecasters looking at a favorable pattern for a stormy start to February, the athletes who make it into Super Bowl XLVIII will need to take some extra precautions to prepare for the potential cold.
The average high on Feb. 2 in East Rutherford, N.J., home of MetLife Stadium where this year's Big Game will play out, is 40 F. Around kick off time temperatures could drop into the mid- to low 30s. However, temperatures as low as 16 F have been recorded for that date and location.
For the athletes, that will mean taking some extra precautions. Josh Gregoire, athletic trainer for the Jacksonville Sharks and a former member of the Atlanta Falcons athletic training team, told AccuWeather.com that there are three main concerns for football players facing the cold.
"When the Falcons would go up north, we'd have to focus on muscle tightening," Gregoire said.
To prevent the extra strain on cold, tight muscles, the athletes would stretch more rigorously when traveling to play in colder climates, Gregoire explained.
"The goal was to keep them moving, keep the muscles loose," he said.
This included working out more during halftime to keep them going, or using heat packs to warm the muscles when the players would need to sit down.
Some teams, such as the Green Bay Packers, are more used to the cold than others. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser, File)
Another big concern for players in colder weather was the result of shivering.
"We worried, as a staff, about shivering, which makes you burn quite a bit of extra calories," Gregoire said. "In football, they're already running and jumping and burning a lot of calories to begin with, so we want to conserve that extra energy and limit burning extra calories by keeping them warm."
Gregoire said that the calories lost from shivering would typically be rather nominal, but for athletes outside for three or more hours that extra energy expenditure is something to be avoided. Athletes will wear warmer jackets on the sidelines to help cut back on the cold, and are advised by their trainers to eat more calories the day of and the day before a cold game.
Proper hydration, which is always a crucial step for any athletic activity, is also a key part of keeping players healthy and safe in the cold. Gregoire said that staying well hydrated in the cold will help to prevent muscle strains.
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The body eventually acclimates to the cold, but it can be a gradual process. Gregoire said that if any warmer climate or dome teams make it to the Super Bowl this year they will likely try to give themselves plenty of time to get used to the cold New Jersey winter before the game starts, which could help players adapt to the cold better.
"At this level of play, pretty much every athlete has played in the elements," Gregoire said. "Northern outdoor teams may be better acclimated, but I wouldn't say that it would put them at any exceptional advantage."
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Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2103
(AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
A brief, but major shift in the weather pattern will send warm air northward and will produce a zone of heavy rain in a large part of the eastern half of the nation this weekend.
Temperatures will trend upward Thursday and Friday from the South to New England.
By the weekend, temperatures may challenge record highs from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic.
Highs will be in the 70s over much of the South with a few spots flirting with 80 degrees Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will reach near 60 degrees along the Ohio River and the Mason-Dixon Line bordering Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The warmth pressing into much of the Midwest and Northeast will lead to snow melt and considerable runoff.
The combination of warm, moist air flowing over cold ground and snow cover will lead to locally dense fog in some locations. Fog could hinder early holiday travel this weekend.
As a storm rolls from Texas over the weekend, a swath of heavy rain will reach northeastward across the Ohio Valley states and into the Northeast.
Enough rain can fall by itself to cause flash, urban and small stream flooding in some areas. This includes areas from the Gulf Coast northward to around the Great Lakes and the Northeast.
In the South to part of the Ohio Valley. the rain could be made more intense by strong to severe thunderstorms.
Where there is still a significant amount of snow remaining on the ground in northern areas, heavy rain can cause that snow to melt rapidly and a substantial rise may result on some rivers. This risk is greatest in parts of Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, upstate New York and central and northern New England.
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As long as the 3 to 5 inches of rain expected from the South does not make it in over the areas with snow cover, flooding problems will tend to be minor, rather than major.
Rainfall over some snowcovered areas will average 1 to 2 inches with locally 3 inches possible.
Most areas have less than a foot of snow on the ground, which roughly translates to an inch or less of water.
In most cases, enough melting will occur and rain will fall to wash away the snow from gable roofs.
However, some flat roofs are at greater risk for trouble, including possible roof collapse.
"The snow may act like a sponge, absorbing the rain and gaining weight in the process," AccuWeather.com Senior Vice President and Forensics Weather Expert Joseph Sobel said. "Prior drifting on flat roofs can be major problem, by causing uneven weight distribution."
One cubic foot of snow weighs about 15 pounds, but less if it is fluffy, and more if it is more dense such as in a a drift.
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