Story at a glance
- A wintery mix of snow, freezing rain and high winds are expected to pummel much of the central part of the country this week.
- The cross-country storm could bring more than 2 feet of snow to some parts of the Great Plains.
- The same storm will bring thunderstorms, hail and even isolated tornadoes to parts of the South.
A cross-country storm will likely bring blizzard conditions, tornadoes and flooding to parts of the country this week.
Gusty winds and moisture from the West Coast will bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions to the Great Plains and Midwest states starting late Monday and lasting until Wednesday.
Plains states will most likely see the worst of the dayslong winter weather on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Blizzard warnings have already been issued for parts of western South Dakota, western Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, where forecasters expect between 4 and 20 inches of snow.
In order for a storm to be categorized as a blizzard, snow has to fall in combination with winds of at least 35 miles per hour and last for a minimum of three hours.
The National Weather Service has also issued a number of winter storm warnings to larger parts of the northern Plains states and winter storm warnings to parts of the Upper Midwest.
“A potent area of low pressure is set to form over Colorado and Kansas Monday night. This will pull moist air northward from the Gulf of Mexico, combining it with bitterly cold air from the polar regions in Canada. With the two put together, a major snowstorm is in the cards from Colorado to Minnesota into midweek,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Thomas Geiger explained.
The same storm predicted to bring heavy snow and winds of up to 60 miles per hour to the Plains will trigger thunderstorms accompanied by hail and isolated tornadoes across parts of the South, forecasters expect.
Forecasters anticipate the weather event will drop one to 3 inches of rain from Arkansas to Louisiana throughout Tuesday and Thursday before moving eastward to Georgia and the Carolinas.
But the storm conditions could pick up, drenching some parts of the country with more than 3 inches of rain over a 48-hour period, according to AccuWeather.
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