Winter Storm Sparta: Snow, Ice In the Plains, Midwest, Northeast and West + FORECAST
By Jon Erdman, 27 Feb 2015 1:00 PM EST, weather.com
Current Radar
Jet Stream Setup This Weekend
Jet Stream Setup This Weekend
The sharp southward plunge of the jet stream responsible for the colder weather and mountain snow this weekend in the West.
More Snow For Dozens Of States
Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari talks about Winter Storm Sparta, expected to move across the country through the weekend and into the first part of the week.
March may arrive Sunday, but Winter Storm Sparta is poised to bring an expansive stripe of snow and some freezing rain through the weekend from parts of the West to the Plains, Midwest and Northeast.
Jet Stream Setup This Weekend
The sharp southward plunge of the jet stream responsible for the colder weather and mountain snow this weekend in the West.
Southern Plains Friday
One upper-level impulse associated with a developing southward dip in the jet stream is spreading snow into some of the same parts of north Texas and southern Oklahoma, which were just blanketed by both Winter Storms Quantum and Remus.
A fairly strong surface high pressure will still be in place over the mid-Mississippi Valley Friday morning, which means there won't be an infusion of Gulf of Mexico moisture.
That said, we expect an inch of two of fluffy snow Friday in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, northward into Oklahoma.
Somewhat higher totals of fluffy snow are expected to the west over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as eastern New Mexico. Expect hazardous travel as pavement temperatures cooled by this week's wintry weather will allow accumulations to occur quickly, rather than melt.
If that wasn't enough, some freezing drizzle is expected Friday night across southern Oklahoma and north Texas, making roads, especially bridges and overpasses even more hazardous by Saturday morning.
West: Winter Returns
A major pattern change is occurring in the West.
February was largely dominated by an expansive ridge, or dome, of high pressure aloft that deflected the primary storm track into western Canada, keeping much of the region warm and dry.
The jet stream is now taking a sharp nosedive southward into the West, and will close off an area of low pressure over or off the California coast this weekend.
Heavier, more persistent snow will be wrung out over the southern Rockies, including the San Juans and Sangre de Cristos of Colorado and New Mexico, the Mogollon Rim of Arizona and canyonlands of southern Utah from Winter Storm Sparta.
Weekend Mess
The jet stream will then send a series of disturbances rippling over the battleground between arctic cold and warmer air trying to push north. The first of these, Winter Storm Sparta, will spread a wintry mess through the Plains, Midwest and Northeast this weekend.
The maps show our current forecasts for Saturday and Sunday. It should be noted that we expect the majority of precipitation to push through the I-95 Northeast corridor later Sunday into Sunday night.
Here is the general flavor of this weekend's mess.
Snow:
- A stripe of moderate to locally heavy snow from the central Plains to the mid-Mississippi Valley, southern Great Lakes and interior Northeast.
- CITIES: Kansas City | Chicago | Pittsburgh | Boston
Sleet/ice
- To the south of that stripe of snow, some sleet and/or freezing rain is possible from the central and southern Plains into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states.
- This does not appear to be a major ice storm. Instead, impacts mainly look to be slick roads, especially bridges and overpasses, with perhaps some sporadic power outages in the extreme.
- CITIES: Wichita | Louisville | Philadelphia
If that wasn't enough, the snowy, icy beat continues into next week, as more jet-stream energy nosedives into California, and yet another wintry mess takes shape in parts of the Plains, Midwest and East Tuesday into Wednesday.
Many Flights Cancelled
Normally 'Hot' States like Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and the Mississippi, are getting hit too;
Early Morning Emergency Shopping to 'Stock Up' before Supermarkets 'Run Out' in some areas;
Snow now blankets the entirety of the Texas area, with road conditions deteriorating quickly and crashes piling up on area highways. The High Five is getting particularly tricky as the overpasses ice up, and at 12:51 p.m. Dallas police said the northbound N. Central ramp at LBJ is closed “due to icy conditions.” DPD has also closed northbound N. Central at the northbound Coit Road ramp. “Icy conditions.”
PhOtOs-Nightmare Freeze Continues in US-Storm SPARTA
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