Storm lumbering into Northeast after unleashing a blizzard and tornadoes

A massive storm system is rolling across the country, bringing deadly tornadoes, dangerous blizzard conditions and even an ice storm along its 2,000-mile trek eastward. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are next in line, bracing for double-digit snow totals inland in northern regions and a slick glaze of ice in the Appalachians.

About 15 million Americans are under blizzard, ice storm or winter storm warnings, with 32 million more blanketed by winter weather advisories. Tornado and flood watches have been draped across the South, meanwhile, where the storm’s warm side is delivering a full-fledged severe weather outbreak.

More than 60 preliminary reports of tornadoes were received by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, with at least three deaths in Louisiana resulting from the storm rampage. Late Wednesday afternoon, a twister carved a path through Arabi, which is adjacent to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, causing serious damage. Arabi also was hit by a deadly EF3 tornado on March 22.

The sprawling storm system brought a chaotic assortment of high-impact weather across the Lower 48 on Wednesday.

Exceptional snow fell on the High Plains and across the Upper Midwest on the cold side of the system, which was centered near the Nebraska-South Dakota border on Wednesday. Deadwood, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, had picked up 3 feet by Thursday morning, and nearby Cheyenne Crossing tallied 30 inches. Pierre, S.D., had about 10 inches, although several totals of 20-24 inches were realized in northwestern Nebraska and southern South Dakota.

Most of North Dakota recorded double-digit totals, and northern Minnesota and Wisconsin also received a plowable snowfall. The National Weather Service office in Duluth, Minnesota, reported 19.9 inches around sunrise; with 8 inches or more still to fall, it is likely that the city will see its fourth-biggest two-day snowstorm on record. Duluth also had not one but two stretches where blizzard conditions were observed – an eight-hour span on Wednesday and a secondary burst of snow Thursday morning.

Approximately 140,000 customers across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes were without power Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, because of strong winds.

Blizzard warnings are remaining in effect across northern Nebraska and western South Dakota through Friday morning. Although snowfall is tapering down, winds gusting 40 to 50 mph will loft freshly fallen snow, reducing visibilities and causing blizzard conditions.

Severe thunderstorms ravaged parts of the South, prompting the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center to hoist a Level 4 out of 5 risk of severe weather Wednesday. The public was warned of a risk of strong tornadoes. Thirty-two tornado reports were received from southeast Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. The Weather Service also logged 32 tornado reports Tuesday, from eastern Texas to Mississippi.

A tornado in New Orleans injured four people and traced a path similar to that taken by a deadly EF3 tornado on March 22. Damage was reported in Jefferson Parish near the Westbank Expressway. A 56-year-old woman died when her home was destroyed in nearby St. Charles Parish.

Other tornadoes tore through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia. That outbreak included an EF3 in Unish Parish, La. The National Weather Service in Shreveport rated it an EF3 with 140 mph winds. Fourteen people were injured along its 9.1-mile path.

The larger overarching storm system, which is positioned over Madison, Wis., is completing a “handoff” ― transferring its energy to a new storm center that will form along the cold front over the Appalachians. That new low pressure zone will shift toward New England and become a secondary winter storm.

At present, freezing rain is leading to ice accumulation in interior Virginia, West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. To the northwest, snow is falling over the Great Lakes and Midwest, with rain along the southern end of the arcing cold front. In Florida, a tornado watch is in effect until 4 p.m.; the watch includes Tampa, Sarasota and Orlando.

Ice storm warnings are in effect along the Interstate 81 corridor in Virginia, the panhandle of Maryland, eastern West Virginia and a stretch of west-central Pennsylvania. That’s where a quarter-inch or more of ice accretion could occur.

The morning weather balloon launch at Dulles International Airport west of Washington, D.C., tells the story. At 4,750 feet elevation, the air temperature was 40.3 degrees – allowing liquid rain to fall. Below 4,250 feet, a shallow layer of subfreezing air is present, and temperatures plummet to 25 degrees 2,360 feet above the ground. While surface temperatures near D.C. are near or above freezing, regions closer to the Blue Ridge, the Potomac Highlands and the Alleghenies are reporting freezing rain.

As of noon Eastern time, up to 0.4 inches of ice had accumulated in western Maryland and more than 0.25 inches in northeast West Virginia.

East of Route 15, toward the Washington-Baltimore area, an onshore flow was keeping conditions slightly warmer, limiting ice accumulation.

The moisture associated with the developing secondary low will ride into the Northeast, where low temperatures inland will support heavy snow. Winter storm warnings were in effect for most of interior Pennsylvania and New York state, and for the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as for all of Vermont. New Hampshire and much of Maine are under winter storm watches.

Widespread totals of 8 to 12 inches are likely in those regions, with a few places closing in on 15 inches in the highest peaks of the White and Green mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively. Snowfall totals also will be robust in Maine, although they’ll drop off markedly near the Seacoast.

Closer to the Interstate 95 corridor, only a cold rain is expected. A general 1 to 2 inches is probable in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Hartford, Concord and Portland, Maine.