Storm with wind, snow and some rain brewing for Midwest, East
A major storm is brewing for midweek around the Great Lakes that may not only bring wintry changes but could bring some much-needed rain, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
As one storm pushes out to sea off the mid-Atlantic coast, fire weather conditions will build across the Northeast once again through early this week.
Lower temperatures compared to recent weeks will result in higher humidity levels and a lower risk of combustion in the coming days. However, there will still be enough of a breeze when combined with dry brush to keep the fire risk going, especially near the Atlantic coast in New England.
The lack of soaking rain in the zone from New York state through New Jersey, northern and eastern Pennsylvania, northeastern Maryland and southern and western New England will allow the abnormally dry to drought conditions to continue building into early this week as well. Overall, conditions continue to worsen in the Northeast, with now 96% of the region either abnormally dry or experiencing drought.
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Looking ahead to the middle of this week, there are indications that a major storm will develop over the Great Lakes region.
"The more obvious conditions from the storm, depending on its intensity, will be a period of strong winds centered on the Great Lakes but expanding through much of the Midwest and into the East," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
The winds will ramp up on Wednesday and peak during Thursday and Friday but may persist in some areas through the weekend. Waves may get very rough on the Great Lakes, and strong winds may lead to renewed power outages where trees are still damaged in the southern Appalachians in the wake of Helene from late September.
"Another function will be for the storm to generate cold air in place and draw much colder air in from Canada across the Midwest to much of the Southeast and into the central Appalachians," Anderson said, "The last places to chill down in this setup would likely be New England."
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Snow will go along with the cold air, and as the cold air passes over the warm waters of the Great Lakes, lake-effect snow will develop and can become locally heavy. Snow is also likely to develop farther south with the colder air over parts of the Ohio Valley and the central and southern Appalachians beginning Wednesday night and lasting in some areas into the weekend.
The storm and a cold front associated with it would likely bring rain or showers and perhaps even a thunderstorm to the Eastern states. This setup alone may not bring enough rain to really matter much in terms of drought relief, with gusty winds quickly evaporating that moisture thereafter.
As the cold front approaches the Atlantic coast, a secondary storm could form along it. If this storm forms and ramps up quickly from Wednesday to Thursday, it could tap into tropical moisture streaming across the Gulf of Mexico from Sara.
This is one way that at least coastal areas to the eastern slopes of the Appalachians could end up with a period of drenching rain that actually makes a dent in the drought conditions and, combined with the blast of colder air later this week, significantly knocks down the brush fire activity.
"One thing the big Midwest storm and its spread of colder air into the South and East later this week will do will be to effectively end the risk of any tropical storms from making landfall in the U.S.," Anderson said. "There may still be some tropical activity over part of the Atlantic basin, but that would likely be deep into the tropics or over the central Atlantic and not near the U.S."
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