More than 83 million people on Thursday were under some kind of winter alert stretching coast-to coast from the Pacific Northwest to New England.
The first storm meteorologists were tracking was producing heavy snow through Tennessee where 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates were likely to cause a difficult morning commute along I-40, including for Nashville.
Through Thursday, this area of snow is forecast to move across Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, southern Ohio and into the Appalachian mountains.
By Thursday night, the snow is forecast to be in full swing across the mid-Atlantic and interior Northeast, affecting cities from Fredericksburg, Virginia, northward to Washington to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and eventually spreading over the I-95 corridor from Philadelphia to New York to Boston.
Friday morning’s rush hour is when this storm is expected to be heaviest.
By sunrise Friday, the snow is forecast to be ending for Washington and Philadelphia but expected to still be going heavily across New York City, Hartford, Connecticut, Boston and all points in between.
It is a fast-moving storm system, so all snow will be off the New England coast by early afternoon.
By Thursday morning, meteorologists were keeping a close eye on the potential of a narrow, but very heavy snow band that could set up near or along the I-95 corridor during peak morning rush on Friday.
Snow totals as high as 8 inches will be possible where this heavy, narrow snow band with 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates sets up. While the exact location is impossible to predict, forecasters warned it could be anywhere from New York City to southern New Jersey or farther east across Long Island up through Cape Cod and Boston.
A separate winter storm on Thursday was causing lake effect snow to blanket portions of the Great Lakes.
By Thursday morning, heavy snow was falling downwind of the lakes, especially across the southern suburbs of Buffalo, New York. On Thursday, snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour will affect areas east of Lakes Erie and Ontario with thundersnow also possible.
The snow will last through Thursday night into Friday morning before winding down.
About 1 to 2 feet of snow will be possible, and the heavy snow combined with wind gusts up to 40 mph will lead to whiteout conditions and make travel difficult or nearly impossible.
Finally, meteorologists were also cautioning about heavy rain and mountain snow for the Pacific Northwest.
About 7 million people were under a flood watch on Thursday across parts of Washington and Oregon and included Seattle and Portland.
Heavy rain and snow will persist across this region through Friday, with the flood watch in effect due to high running rivers, creeks and streams.
Rainfall amounts up to 5 inches and snowfall amounts up to 18 inches will be possible through Friday.
And behind the snow, comes dangerously cold temperatures.
About 19 million people woke up Thursday under wind chill alerts stretching from North Dakota to the Texas Panhandle. In these areas, wind chills were forecast to be as cold as 50 degrees below zero, which can cause frostbites in just minutes.
Thursday morning’s temperatures were below zero across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, with wind chills 20 to 30 degrees below zero.
Across the Great Lakes, temperatures were in the single digits and wind chills below zero.
The cold air will head east on Friday and stay locked in there through early next week.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
