Weather

An active pattern continues across the Heartland; cold wave north to build southward

Active weather, with multiple hazards, will continue for the remainder of the week.  Notably, snow currently falling from the central Plains into the western Corn Belt will spread northeastward, reaching northern New England on Thursday. 

Farther south, a threat of severe thunderstorms will peak later Wednesday from the lower Mississippi Valley into parts of Georgia.  Meanwhile, a potent Pacific storm system will arrive in California on Thursday. 

The storm should provide a boost in high-elevation snowpack in California and the Southwest, although heavy rain at lower elevations could result in flash flooding and debris flows, especially on recently burned hillsides. 

Toward week’s end, a new round of precipitation will develop across the eastern half of the country, as the former Western storm tracks from the central and southern Plains into the Ohio Valley.  Additional snow will fall in the Midwest, while heavy showers and locally severe thunderstorms will return across parts of the South.  A renewed threat of Southern severe thunderstorms, including isolated tornadoes, should peak Saturday night into Sunday. 

Five-day rainfall totals could reach 4 to 8 inches or more across the interior Southeast, including the Tennessee Valley, leading to the possibility of flooding as precipitation falls on increasingly saturated soils.