Another Round of Wintry Weather for the Central U.S.

Winter Storm Warnings, Watches and Winter Weather Advisories cover much of the Central United States as we head into the weekend.

The following summary is not inclusive and as this is a developing weather situation, conditions will change quickly over the next 48 hours.

Winter Storm Warnings cover much of Central and Northern New Mexico in places like Gallup, Albuquerque, Farmington, Taos and Santa Fe.

The NWS Amarillo expects the mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow over the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles to change to snow overnight. General snow amounts of 4-8 inches with some isolated 12 inch amount are expected before Sunday morning. Same thing in the West Texas and New Mexico area served by the NWS Lubbock in placesl like Hobbs, NM.

Mountain areas of southeastern New Mexico are under Heavy Snow Warnings. Nearly a foot has already fallen in some places and 5-7 more inches may fall by morning in places like Cloudcroft.

The NWS Flagstaff maintains Snow Advisories for places like Payson and ShowLow in Arizona where James does radio weather for KGCB.

In Oklahoma…a Winter Storm Warning is in effect for much of the state. Starting off as a wintry mix. Turning over to heavy snow over the northwestern half of the state and continuing as a miz of sleet, freezing rain and snow over southern sections.

Fortunately, North Texas looks OK in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with mostly liquid precipitation falling. Northwest of a line from Eastland to Gainesville, a wintry mix may accumulate to about 1/4 of an inch causing travel problems.

Hevay snows of 5-9 inches are expected across eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas in the Tulsa and Fayetteville areas. Snowfall rates may exceed one inch per hour at times.

Ahead of the system across the Central Plains and Mississippi Valley, Winter Storm Watches are already in place in anticipation of som esignificant snows across Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and into Illinois. 4-6 inch amounts will be common, with some locally higher totals in these areas. But I think they will take snow anyday over the dreadful effects of freezing rain.

The major cities of St. Louis and Kansas City expect 5 inches of snow tomorrow night befor ethe precipitation changes to freezing drizzle Sunday afternoon.

Little Rock warns that icing could be significant again with freezing rain over northern parts of their state tomorrow into tomorrow night.

On the other side of the country…

Lake Effect Snow Advisories continue in the lee of the Great Lakes where northwesterly winds are causing significant lake effect snows over parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and even down into Maryland and West Virginia. Some places in the lake effect snow belts of New York may pick up two feet of snow by late Saturday. I like this call to action statement: IN LAKE EFFECT SNOW THE WEATHER CAN VARY FROM LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW IN NARROW BANDS TO CLEAR SKIES JUST A FEW MILES AWAY. IF YOU WILL BE TRAVELING ACROSS THE REGION BE PREPARED FOR RAPID CHANGES IN ROAD AND VISIBILITY CONDITIONS.

Motorists are being advised to avoid traveling in the mountains of New Hampshire tonight, where 4 to 8 inches of snow is expected, while valley areas may only get an inch. Upslope winds will create the disproportionate snowfall amounts.

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