Winter storm alerts extend from northern Georgia through Maine as the system moves on Sunday.
Although this system won’t be the record breaking 18- to 36-inch across regions last week, it will still pack a punch for some locations.
One interesting possibility to note is that Boston may end up getting more than three times what it picked from the previous world. As of now, forecasts are 3-6 inches for the city on Sunday, much more than the 1.2 inches the city received during the last storm.
How much snow is uncertain
There is still some uncertainty about exactly how much snow the Northeast and Central Atlantic will get with this system.
“The factors that can limit snowfall using this system are how quickly the storm tracks the coast, as well as how close the storm’s path is to the coast,” says CNN meteorologist Hayley Brink.
“If the system tracks farther from the coast, the heaviest precipitation will be over the Atlantic. If the storm hugs the coast, the heavier snow ranges could directly affect several cities over the I-95 corridor.”
Speed is an important factor in this storm compared to the previous one on Monday.
“If this low-lying coastline is rapidly running down the coast, this will limit the amount of time the snow must accumulate,” Brink said.
For most areas of New Jersey, Connecticut, and eastern New York, snow will start on Sunday at sunrise and end at sunset. The storm is expected to drop 6 to 10 inches in that time period, which is several inches less than the previous storm.
For the mid-Atlantic and southern Appalachian regions, the main concern is the freeze mark. Rain and snow in these areas will mix together, so even a slight difference in temperature will change the amount of snowfall accumulations that can be seen from northern Georgia all the way to Washington, DC.
Gale winds combined with heavy snowfall will reduce visibility at many of these locations.
Other impacts of this storm include hazardous driving conditions as well as power outages.
Snow is here to stay
The coldest air this season is set to travel across most of the lower 48 states in the coming days.
More than 40 million people across the neighboring United States are expected to experience sub-zero temperatures over the next seven days. The coldest temperatures will be in the central US as the Weather Service predicts extremely cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills in the Northern Plains and the Upper Midwest this weekend.
From Sunday to Thursday, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Detroit will experience high temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees below normal, keeping them below freezing for nearly an entire week.
Much of the Great Lakes and inland New England region will remain below freezing for most of the next week as well. This means that whatever snow falls on Sunday, he is likely to stay there.
“Expect hazardous travel conditions on Sunday with snow and ice re-freezing on untreated roads and surfaces Monday morning,” according to the Weather Forecast Center.