Winter Storm Warnings Posted FOR EVERYONE!

An ENORMOUS chunk of the Eastern US has been placed under Winter Storm Watches, Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories.

The Winter Storm Warning stretches from the Mexican Border in South Texas all the way up into the Ohio River Valley. The Warning includes parts of the Gulf Coast, Southern Plains, Lower Mississippi and Tennessee River Valleys. An Ice Storm Warning has been posted for part of the Appalachians in Eastern Kentucky and into West Virginia. A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for much of the Northeast.

The scope of this is truly remarkable.

Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
Sun Feb 14 2021
Valid 12Z Sun Feb 14 2021 - 12Z Tue Feb 16 2021

...Over 150 million Americans are currently under Winter Storm Warnings, Ice Storm Warnings, Winter Storm Watches, or Winter Weather Advisories as impactful winter weather takes shape from coast-to-coast...

...Major winter storm to spread heavy snow and significant ice accumulations from the Plains to the Northeast...

...Frigid Arctic air and dangerously cold wind chills to persist in the Heartland into next week...

There are no shortage of winter weather hazards across the Lower 48 over the next couple days. An Arctic high pressure system supplying sub-freezing temperatures is working in tandem with an active storm track to generate a large swath of accumulating snowfall and treacherous ice accumulations. Icy conditions look to linger around the Mid-Atlantic Sunday morning but should improve throughout the day. While conditions improve in the Mid-Atlantic, conditions will deteriorate throughout the day in the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley as an upper-level trough in the Southwest spawns a major winter storm over the South Central U.S. The footprint from this winter storm is so large that parts of South Texas are under a Winter Storm Warning for the first time in a decade.

Periods of snow, falling heavily at times, will be common from New Mexico to the Mississippi Valley today with the heaviest accumulations likely to occur in central Oklahoma and the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. In addition to the snow, significant ice accumulations are forecast from the Texas coast to the Tennessee Valley from Sunday afternoon into Monday. The worst ice-related impacts occur on Monday as a low pressure system gathers strength in the Gulf of Mexico.

The swath of accumulating ice on Monday is impressive, stretching from south Texas to the northern Mid-Atlantic. Heavy snow on Monday will also blanket much of the Lower Mississippi, the Ohio Valley, into the Northeast. The forecast through early Tuesday morning calls for 8 to 12 inches in central Oklahoma with locally higher amounts possible. An area of 4 to 8 inches of snow looks to extend from east Texas and the Ohio Valley to the Northeast. Substantial ice accumulations of up to a half inch are possible from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Tennessee Valley leading to dangerous travel conditions, numerous power outages, and extensive tree damage.

The aforementioned Arctic high pressure system looks to maintain a strong grip over the Nation's Heartland, causing many areas east of the Rockies and west of the Appalachians to witness dangerous and record-breaking cold into the first half of the upcoming week. The north-central U.S. should once again see sub-zero high temps on Sunday, with single digit highs stretching as far south as the Texas Panhandle. Low temperatures are forecast to be range between -20 to -30 degrees across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Gusty winds throughout much of the Plains and Midwest continue to foster life-threatening wind chills between -30 to -60 in the north-central CONUS. Wind Chill Advisories extend as far south as the Southern Plains and as far east as the Ohio Valley. Hundreds of daily low maximum and minimum temperatures will be broken with some February and even all-time low temperature records in jeopardy. Daily temperature anomalies in the Southern Plains both Sunday and Monday are likely to range from 25 to 40 degrees below normal. -Mullinax