What We Know About the Winter Storm About to Hit the US-and What We Don't

"Over the past weekend, when weather models first started forecasting a winter storm that would sweep over large parts of the country, Sean Sublette, a meteorologist living in Virginia, started telling people in his area to prepare for snow. At the time, Sublette says, "a lot of the data started to point to a substantial snow storm for the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, with significant ice farther southward into Carolina's Tennessee Valley.""

""This does not mean I am buying it hook, line, and sinker yet. But it is a sobering chunk of data to suggest heavy freezing rain, which is that type of precipitation that's liquid until it touches something and then freezes. That's the stuff that weighs down power lines. That's the stuff that weighs down the trees and brings them over on top of the power lines.""

"On Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service issued a series of possible forecasts -what it called "Key Messages"-on the upcoming storm, predicting heavy snow starting on Friday falling from the Rocky Mountains and Plains regions and moving to the East Coast on Sunday. Freezing rain and sleet are projected to hit states south of the snow zone. Maps provided by the NWS show the storm hitting nearly 30 states, from as far west as New Mexico and Texas, all the way up to Maine"

Weather models indicate a winter storm sweeping large parts of the country this weekend into next week. Heavy snow is expected to begin Friday in the Rocky Mountains and Plains and move to the East Coast by Sunday. Freezing rain and sleet are projected south of the snow zone, with significant ice possible across the mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas, and the Tennessee Valley. Central Virginia faces a risk of heavy freezing rain capable of weighing down power lines and toppling trees. The National Weather Service issued "Key Messages" forecasting impacts across nearly 30 states from New Mexico and Texas up to Maine and as far south as Georgia.

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