Winter Storm Kai Will Spread Snow, Strong Winds From the Sierra, Rockies Into the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest – The Weather Channel

Winter Storm Kai will spread a mess of snow, ice and strong winds from the Rockies into parts of the Plains and Midwest early next week.

Winter Storm Kai was named early Saturday when the area of the U.S. that was under a winter storm warning exceeded criteria of at least 4000,000 square kilometers.

After one of the coldest Midwest outbreaks in a generation, the jet stream pattern will undergo a fundamental change. Instead of taking a nosedive out of Canada into the Great Lakes and Northeast, the jet stream will take a southward plunge in the western U.S. by the weekend.

Kai is a potent storm for the West Coast that will work its way into the Plains, Midwest and Northeast early next week.

Snow is currently falling in the Sierra and parts of the higher elevations in southern Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and western Montana.

Even though the ferocity of this week’s cold outbreak will retreat, there will be sufficiently cold air across parts of the northern tier to manufacture snow, sleet and freezing rain.

Current Winter Weather Alerts

Winter storm watches and warnings have been issued for much Montana, North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota and for California’s Sierra, southern California mountains and the higher elevations in southern Nevada and southern Utah.

Travel is expected to be dangerous in areas under winter storm warnings, especially in areas where strong, gusty winds result in blowing snow and reduced visibility.

Winter weather advisories are also posted for parts of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana nd southern North Dakota where conditions will could be difficult for travel due to periods of snowfall.

(MORE: Winter Storm Central)

Snowy Forecast

Kai will bring heavy snow to the Sierra on Saturday, likely causing travel issues in the normally tricky spots like Donner Pass. Snow will also fall at lower elevations as the weekend progresses and the National Weather Service noted on Friday that travel is highly discouraged.

Snow will begin to spread into the Rockies Saturday night.

Winter Storm Kai will head into the Plains Sunday and then into the upper Midwest and Great Lakes Sunday night into Monday.

While the air mass won’t be nearly as cold as this week’s cold outbreak, high pressure nosing eastward across the Canadian prairie should keep just enough cold air in place to generate snow, sleet or freezing rain from the northern Plains to at least the northern Great Lakes and parts of the interior Northeast.

Saturday-Saturday night: Rain and high elevation snow will fall across most of the West. Light snow, sleet or freezing rain may break out in parts of the Great Lakes from an initial jet-stream disturbance.

Sunday-Sunday night: Snow, sleet and freezing rain will impact Montana, the Dakotas, northwest Iowa and parts of Minnesota. As this system strengthens, winds will increase which will likely cause blowing and drifting snow, potentially with near-blizzard conditions in some spots. Some snow or ice may also move into far northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, northern New York and northern New England.

Monday: Snow or rain changing to snow and strong winds could impact parts of the upper Midwest as the area of low pressure lifts into Canada. Amazingly, some areas shivering in subzero cold late this week may see rain, not snow, from this system, particularly in the Ohio Valley and parts of the southern Great Lakes. Snow or a rain/snow mix is also possible in parts of Maine.

Temperatures will be 20 to 40 degrees colder than average in much of the northern Plains behind this system.

Snowfall Forecast

Multiple feet of Sierra snow are expected, adding to a snowpack that is already above average for this time of year. Travel will be dangerous throughout the Sierra, including Interstate 80 over Donner Pass.

The biggest snowfall totals are expected to be pretty far north, mainly near the Canadian border, due to a mid-winter warm spell across the Midwest and East.

While it’s too soon to pinpoint totals, accumulating sleet and/or ice may be a more significant component with this system in parts of the Midwest than we saw earlier this week from Winter Storm Jayden. The highest risk for accumulating ice appears to be in parts of central and northern Wisconsin and portions of Michigan.

There may be at least one more wintry system to follow next week that could once again spread a wintry mess across the West, Plains, Midwest and Northeast.

Check back with us at weather.com for the latest on Winter Storm Kai.

últimas notícias

Ultimas Noticias