Weekend storm to dish wintry weather to parts of Midwest, Northeast

While the first of two storms was struggling to produce much in the form of snow or wintry mix on Friday, a second storm will affect the Midwest and Northeast during the latter part of the weekend that could have people swapping their umbrellas for snow shovels, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

The system tracking over the Midwest and Northeast as December got underway produced a few pockets of snow, but it was not quite cold enough across the regions for widespread wintry precipitation.

Between storms on Saturday, much of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions will be free of substantial precipitation although there may be large patches of low clouds with pockets of light rain and drizzle. As the old shell from the first storm diminishes over the interior Northeast, some rain will fall from northern Pennsylvania to coastal Maine, with a light wintry mix over the northern tier.

However, the second storm will move up from the Gulf of Mexico later this weekend to early next week.

"The storm expected from Sunday to Monday across the Great Lakes and Northeast will feature a damp and dreary rain for most of the coastal Northeast," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. The combination of rain, low clouds and fog will make for slick conditions and poor visibility at times, leading to slow highway travel and airline delays in Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and other major cities.

Colder air will seep southward soon after as the storm commences on Sunday night, setting the stage for snow to fall in parts of upstate New York and northern New England with a wintry mix farther south in New York and central New England.

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In the higher elevations of the northern Green and White Mountains and across central and northern Maine, there is the potential for 6-12 inches of snow to fall, with locally higher amounts over the ridge and peaks.

From 1 to 3 inches of snow is likely with a mixture of sleet and rain from east-central New York to southern Vermont, New Hampshire and close to the Maine coast. There could be a slushy accumulation a bit farther to the south in New York and into central and western Massachusetts.

"Temperatures will likely hover within a few degrees of freezing across places like the Champlain and Connecticut valleys of northern New England," Buckingham said, adding, "This could limit the amount of snow that falls to a few inches, but if temperatures dip lower than expected, more snow could pile up."

The southward extent of the cold air in the Northeast will depend on how quickly a new storm forms near the coast and how quickly it strengthens from late Sunday to Monday. A fast-forming strong storm would swiftly pull the cold air southward, allowing snow in more places of the interior Northeast.

A separate pocket of slightly colder air at mid-levels of the atmosphere may lead to snow accumulating up to a few inches from southeastern Iowa and northern Illinois to southern and central Wisconsin and the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from later Saturday night to Sunday night.

"There is a chance that the cold air seeps southward enough to bring a wintry mix to Chicago instead of just plain rain on Saturday night and Sunday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Dean DeVore said. The same conditions could occur just north of Detroit for a time as well.

In the wake of the large storm, conditions during the first half of the new week will feature temperatures near to slightly below the historical average in the Midwest and Northeast, with the chance for a round or two of rain and snow showers.