'Impactful storm' to bring swath of snow to East Coast this weekend

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- AccuWeather meteorologists expect a disruptive storm to dump snow across parts of the interior South and up the Eastern Seaboard this weekend -- but it will not be a repeat of the blockbuster storm that shattered snowfall records across parts of the East in early February.

"This snowstorm on the way this weekend is going to be a glancing blow, but still an impactful storm from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast," AccuWeather chief on-air meteorologist Bernie Rayno said in his Saturday morning Weather Insider podcast.

Forecasters have been keeping tabs on the major snowstorm potential all week and closely analyzing how it may track. A storm route that hugs the coast would spell the biggest snowstorm scenario for the Northeast, but a storm that charges out to sea would bring little to no snow for the same areas. Confidence was growing on Thursday and Friday that it will likely take a path somewhere in between those two projections, and as Rayno explained, still bring a significant amount of snow and impacts to some areas along the coast.

But, for the snow-weary and those with sore backs from shoveling 2 feet to 3 feet of that snow that buried parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York state earlier this week, the weekend storm is not expected to reach the same magnitude. The amount of snow is predicted to cause travel disruptions, but due to snowfall intensity, it should be more manageable for road crews to keep up with across most of the Northeast.

Winter storm warnings were issued Saturday morning from northeastern Georgia all the way to southern New England. Cities in this warning area included Asheville, N.C., Roanoke and Richmond, Va., Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Providence, R.I.

Forecasters say that two separate storms -- one that will press eastward across the Midwest and another that will develop over the Southeast and then track offshore of the East coast -- will not merge to produce a powerhouse storm that would cause extreme snowfall rates and blizzard conditions like the last one.

Due to the offshore track, the heaviest amounts of snow will also be skewed farther to the east compared to the last storm.

"This is a fast-moving storm," Rayno added. "It's gonna be a quick hitter, and that is going to keep some snow accumulations down."

AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting 3 inches to 6 inches of snow along the Interstate-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and New York City.

"Some of the snow may melt as it falls, especially on paved surfaces during the daylight hours on Sunday, and this can cut down on the accumulation somewhat in these metro areas," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski explained.

Widespread amounts of 3 inches to 6 inches of snow are likely to extend all the way from eastern Tennessee to southeastern New Jersey, New York and southern and eastern New England. Part of southeastern Massachusetts and to eastern Long Island may have more snow, picking up 6 inches 12 inches from the storm.

An AccuWeather Local StormMax of 15 inches is possible in the southern Appalachians from this weekend storm.

Accumulating snow may graze the northern and western suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., with up to a few inches forecast for part of the Richmond, Va., area, and several inches are in store for Roanoke and Charlottesville, Va.

If the storm intensifies a bit more as it moves over the Atlantic, then heavier snow may fall farther west across New England as well. At this time, 3 inches to 6 inches of snow is forecast for Hartford, Conn.; Portsmouth, N.H.; Portland, Maine; and Boston.

Farther to the west, across interior areas of the Northeast, the coastal storm may struggle to produce much in the way of snow.

"Snowfall for much of the area from central Pennsylvania to the northern Hudson Valley of New York state is likely to be light with this event and on the order of a coating to an inch or two," AccuWeather senior storm warning meteorologist Brian Wimer said.

Even though the storm is expected to be impactful for coastal areas of New York state, the opposite end of the state, along with other areas around the Great Lakes in Michigan and northwestern Pennsylvania, are likely to have more significant snowfall accumulations due to a lake-effect snow event into Saturday evening.

The flow of Arctic air across the largely unfrozen waters of the Great Lakes will unleash bands of heavy lake-effect snow in multiple rounds through next week. Through Saturday night, up to a few feet of snow can fall east of Lake Superior, with 1 foot to 2 feet of snow possible in the snow belts on the eastern shores of lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.

On Saturday, the colder, northern portion of the southern storm is forecast to begin producing snow over parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and western Tennessee. These areas can expect anything from a spotty light coating of snow to as much as an inch or two.

As the Southern storm rolls northeastward, accumulating snow will break out over parts of eastern Tennessee, northern Alabama, northern Georgia, upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina late Saturday and Saturday night. Snowflakes could even be spotted around Atlanta for a time Saturday night.

On Saturday night, snow is then predicted to expand northeastward from southwestern Virginia to eastern and northern Virginia, through much of West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, southern New Jersey and south-central and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Since much of this snow is forecast to fall on Saturday night when road surface temperatures will dip, travel can be hazardous with many paved and concrete surfaces likely to be slushy and snow covered. By Sunday, snowfall will make its way into much of New England.

AccuWeather forecasters say it won't be time to put away the snow shovels or snowblowers after the weekend storm. There will likely be more opportunities for snow on several occasions over the next week or two as Arctic air will plunge southward from central Canada and sprawl across the central and eastern U.S. -- and an active storm track is predicted to continue.

AccuWeather meteorologists have already been busy monitoring the potential for another storm destined to spread a swath of accumulating snow from parts of the Midwest to much of the Northeast spanning late Monday to Tuesday night.