Arctic Blast to Follow Northeast Snow, Trigger Heavy Lake-Effect

Yet another blast of Arctic air will roll southeastward this week over the Midwest and will reach the Northeast.

The air will be the coldest of the season so far from Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

The Arctic blast will be accompanied by stiff breezes and gusty winds, which will produce RealFeel® temperatures well below zero over the northern Plains and much of the Midwest and near zero in parts of the I-95 region.

The worst of the cold will reach the Upper Midwest Wednesday, the Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes Wednesday night and the Atlantic Seaboard Thursday into Thursday night.

The action of frigid air passing over the open waters of the Great Lakes will set up bands of heavy lake-effect snow, that will produce whiteouts in some locations of upstate New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, northwestern Indiana and Michigan.

Areas likely to be hardest hit by lake-effect snow include New York state’s Tug Hill region and areas south of Buffalo and the eastern shores of Lake Michigan and part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, south of Lake Superior. The snowiest spots within these areas are likely to receive between 1 and 4 feet of snow spanning Wednesday to Friday.

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A bit of snow can fall over the Midwest away from lake-effect areas as a weak Alberta Clipper storm rides along the leading edge of the Arctic air. Along the East Coast, the air will follow a couple of days behind a storm bringing accumulating snow Tuesday.

AccuWeather.com will have more information on the new Arctic outbreak and lake-effect snow as the week progresses. – AccuWeather