This winter storm could be one of the biggest in years for many cities
A winter storm covering much of the country and impacting about half the U.S. population began cranking up Friday. In many places, it will threaten to be not only the biggest storm of winter so far but in years or even decades.
It will first sweep across the southern and central Rockies and east to the southern Plains. By the end of the weekend, it will impact the South, the Midwest, the Ohio Valley and much of the East Coast. A swath of snow from the plains of northeastern New Mexico to New England will deliver a wide zone of 6 to 12 inches. Some areas could see up to 1.5 feet. On the south edge of the snow swath, dangerous ice is expected in parts of the Deep South.
It’s all arriving with and followed by severe Arctic chill.
The Washington Post has detailed the forecast for a dozen of the cities expected to be hit hardest.
Below is a breakdown for several cities expected to be near the heart of the heavy snow band and how the National Weather Service suggests they will experience their largest snowfall in years.
Wichita
Wichita, in south-central Kansas, is expecting 7 to 12 inches of snow. The last snow of that nature happened in November 2023, when 7.8 inches fell. If the higher end of the forecast verifies, it would be the first time with 10 or more inches since 2013, when 14.2 inches fell in February.
Maximum snowfall in the region may fall between Wichita and Oklahoma City. It could be the snowiest in decades in some of these locations.
Springfield, Missouri
The recent snowstorm to beat in Springfield is 8.5 inches in early February 2022. If surpassed, the range of next events is 10 inches in early 2011 to 14.3 inches in December 2000.
The forecast in Springfield’s part of southern Missouri was for 8 to 14 inches.
St. Louis
As the storm shifts somewhat north versus the earlier forecast, St. Louis finds itself with a climbing forecast of 6 to 11 inches.
The city had two storms over 6 inches just last year. At the high end of forecast, it could challenge a 10.9-inch storm in January 2019 as its recent biggest.
Cincinnati
Cincinnati had a sizable snowstorm this time last year, with 10.6 inches falling. However, the forecast of 11 inches there could move this storm into the top 10 snowstorms for the city if it verifies.
Pittsburgh
The Steel City hasn’t seen a double-digit snowstorm since December 2020 in a storm that dropped 11 inches. It just missed with 9.7 inches in March 2022.
The storm forecast of 12 inches would make it the biggest since February 2010, when 21.1 inches was tallied during a historic Ohio Valley to Mid-Atlantic blizzard.
Philadelphia
It has been exactly a decade since Philadelphia witnessed a snowstorm surpassing 8.1 inches. That event was the historic January 2016 blizzard that dropped 22.4 inches.
Philadelphia is expecting about 13 inches.
New York
Like Philadelphia, the forecast calls for 13 inches in New York.
A typically snowier spot among big cities, the Big Apple has not seen a double-digit storm since February 2021, when a 17.2-inch storm occurred. It appeared it might end that streak with a snowstorm around Christmas a month ago, but it trended north at the last minute.
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is forecast to get 13 inches of snow. A stripe from Louisville to Lexington and eastward along Interstate 64 is looking at a foot or more.
If 13 inches falls, it will be the biggest in the city since one in March 2015 that dropped 17.1 inches there.
Hartford, Connecticut
Another snowy city, Hartford hasn’t seen a big one recently. The 13 to 14 inches forecast there would be the largest since 2019. In December of that year, a storm dropped 13.8 inches. The last time Hartford topped a foot was in 2021.
To its northeast, snowy Boston is also looking to end a streak of nearly four years without a double-digit storm. Topping the 23.8 inches in late January 2022 will be tough.
High-end ice in parts of the South
To the south of the snow swath, a crippling ice storm is anticipated in a broken line from around East Texas to the mid-Atlantic coast. A few cities face a particularly notable threat.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo, much of northern Mississippi and a zone stretching from northern Louisiana to south-central Tennessee is staring down a potentially historic ice storm, with an inch or more accretion forecast.
It will be the biggest storm in the region since February 2021, but that event was more snow and sleet. For a freezing rain event of similar nature, look back to 1996 or 1994. The latter dropped up to several inches of freezing rain on parts of the state, leaving some in the dark for weeks.
Georgia to the Carolinas
The worst ice in Georgia to the Carolinas will be tucked just east of the highest terrain of the southern Appalachians, wedged in there by powerful Arctic high pressure moving east in tandem with the storm.
A widespread portion of the multistate region could see half an inch to as much as an inch of ice. A forecast just shy of three-quarters of an inch in Charlotte could make it the worst ice storm since 2002 there.
Historic cold on the back of the storm
Those who miss out on the big snow deeper in the South will eventually be blanketed by record cold. In areas that receive snow, sleet and freezing rain, it will tend to stick around for a while with plentiful cold to come after the storm.
Dallas
The Jan. 26 record of 12 from 1904 is forecast to be demolished with a low of 7 on Monday.
Tulsa
A forecast of minus-6 on Monday would crush the daily record of 7 that was set in 1963.
Brownsville, Texas
At the southern tip of Texas, a low of 31 on Monday would beat the record of 32 from 1940.
Washington, D.C.
A low of 5 on Tuesday would break the daily record of 6 from 1935. This would tie for the coldest since 1994 with Feb. 20, 2015, and Feb. 5, 1996.