Freezing rain and cluttered travel expected over the eastern United States

Waves of winter weather are expected to sweep across the eastern United States this week with a wide region of the country from the midwest to the middle Atlantic trapped between Frigid Arctic air and warmer, humid air that could leave trees and weighs under a glaze of ice.

While light snowfall and stains of gossip are expected in some places, “freezing of rain and isaccumulation is expected to be the dominant dangers that potentially lead to dangerous travel conditions,” Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with National Weather Service.

The heaviest glaze is expected for western Maryland, northern West Virginia and central and southern Pennsylvania, where ice accumulations exceeding a quarter inch can damage trees and lead to power outages.

Winter Storm -Watch was in effect for these areas from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning. National Weather Service Office in State College, PA., Predicted a long period of gossip that switches to freeze rain until Thursday morning, with the largest accumulations expected in the southwestern part of the state.

Lighter quantities are expected over the midwest, Great Lakes and Northern Mid-Atlantic, but “it doesn’t take much ice to cause problems,” warned Mr. Oravec.

Freezing of rain and gossip probably causes dangerous trips on Thursday morning in and around Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, but the weather is likely to switch to rain in the morning in parts of Mid-Atlantic. Some snow or sleet is possible from New York to Boston and eventually transformation into rain later in the day.

Although no strong snowfall is expected, accumulations of up to a few centimeters are possible from North Dakota and central and northern Minnesota to Upstate New York and northern New England.

Looking forward to Friday and weekend, another round of winter weather is set to influence some of these same areas – this time with “a better chance of heavy snow,” Mr. Oravec. A new system that develops in the south-central plains is expected to bring snow to Dakotas and Upper Midwest. When the system traces northeast, moderate to heavy snowfall ranging from four to six inches is expected over the big lakes and northeast before Saturday.

The chances of considerable snow and gossip from this system rise in northern mid -Atlantic and northeastern, especially at higher heights such as Catskills, Adirondacks and Berkshires. Beated and freezing rain is also expected over the mid -Atlantic, New York and southern New England.

Further south and southwest, rain will be more widespread over Ohio Valley and the central Appalachians. Several rounds of rainfall, driven by continuous storm activity, can raise the risk of flooding in parts of West Virginia on Saturday.