Brittany Lockley

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A strengthening coastal low is expected to bring heavy snowfall to parts of the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic this weekend. The low will track east Friday through Sunday, even delivering heavy rain at times, gusty winds, and areas of wintry precipitation across the Northeast. The storm system will develop along a stalled frontal boundary near the Southeast coast before tracking northward along the shoreline, tapping into Atlantic moisture and intensifying as it moves up the East Coast.&nbsp; Weathernation Meteorologist Brittany Lockley spoke the National Weather Service in Raleigh about potential impacts, preparation, and historical context.<div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DYzNRejruHA" start="0"></iframe></div>The set-up is different than the most recent wallop of snow. Instead of a few waves of a mixed bag of precipitation types, this will be a strong but quickly developing storm system, which makes it tougher to forecast. Where and when this storm develops will hold all of the details as to how far inland some of these threats will reach. The main threats we are watching will be the potential for heavy snow, strong winds, and coastal flooding.<h1>Impacts</h1>This system will bring a threat of heavy snow to areas along the Mid-Atlantic coast. This snow starts to show up in our models across Georgia and the Carolinas as early as Friday. As the system lifts north, colder air wrapping into the storm will allow rain to mix with or change to snow. North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York could see accumulating snowfall. Gusty winds developing on the back side of the low may further reduce visibility and create difficult travel conditions in areas that experience wintry weather.&nbsp;Some models are eager to pick up the snowfall amounts, like our in-house Barron Model.This model is hammering the snowfall totals for North Carolina, with 8-12" even into Virginia and parts of South Carolina with over 3". <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-30 041443-1769771708327.png">The Weather Prediction Center is highlighting parts of the Carolinas for moderate to major impacts of winter storm impacts this weekend! Even extreme impacts are possible in the Outer Banks.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-30 041535-1769771744763.png">The GFS model is staying under a foot of snow for most areas. However, the latest run shuts out the snow chances for New England, so we will see how everything plays out.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-30 041451-1769771722719.png">With the snowfall forecast still up in the air, it is better to focus on safer bets that will be part of the equation. Wind. With a quickly deepening cyclone, a wide wind field is expected, with some wind gusts approaching 60-70 mph. Will the system be close enough to the coast to bring some of those inland?<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/2026-01-29 06-41-48-1769694147643.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>Stay up to date with the latest forecast as details become more and more clear.

Patrick Crawford

Major Snow Maker Aims at the Carolinas & Mid-Atlantic

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Rob grew up in South Florida, where daily afternoon storms and hurricanes piqued his interest in meteorology early on. That interest was fostered by his teachers and his father, who one time brought him onto the roof of their home to watch a funnel cloud move through the Everglades several miles away. Years of filmmaking and tv production in high school gradually pushed him toward broadcast meteorology at Florida State University, where he joined and eventually led the student run daily weather show. After graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Meteorology, he began his career at KESQ in Palm Springs, California before heading to KFSN in Fresno and WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina. He has covered a diverse array of extreme weather events, including haboobs and flash flooding in the desert, extreme snow in the Sierra, hurricanes, and Appalachian ice storms. He also enjoys telling stories and reporting about weather issues.

Connect with Rob on <a href="https://twitter.com/WxRobBradley">Twitter</a>

Rob Bradley

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Persistent bursts of cold air have continued to produce heavy snow around the Great Lakes this week. While ice continues to build on the lakes, it doesn't look like it will stop the potential for snow over the next few days as another round of arctic air spills over the region.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 064508-1769694424422.png">While Lake Erie is now mostly ice-covered, Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Ontario remains mostly ice free exposed, meaning cold air can still pick up plenty of moisture.As winds shift to the north on Friday, lake effect snow will also shift, sending snow southward into northern Illinois and Indiana. The alerts now include the Chicago metro.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1png-1769803144534.png">Some of those snow bands will even aim at Chicago, IL by Friday into Saturday, with the potential for 6"+ in some neighborhoods around the city. Areas like Gary, IN, could also see some heavier totals in the area.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/New Baron Video 3-1769803884643.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>. The band setting up Friday for northern Illinois also has the potential for heavy accumulation from Chicago through Gary, IN.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769804011664.png">As for Lake Michigan it has been an active year.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Web 2-1769783777171.png">For more details on the Central U.S., be sure to join us :30 past the hour, for more details on the northeast, be sure to join us :10 past the hour.

Lake-Effect Snow Continues, Shifts Toward Chicago This Weekend

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WeatherNation Meteorologists

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Earlier this week, Seattle recorded 2 straight weeks without measurable precipitation. That's a long stretch for most, but especially the Pacific Northwest. But as we saw a few weeks ago, we're getting back into a wet pattern out west, with multiple shots at rain and snow. In the Past 24 hours in the state of Washington, there were rainfall totals as high as 3.55".<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-30 091510-1769789731316.png">As with most repeated rounds of rain, flash flooding will be a concern. The highest totals look to target the Olympic Peninsula and into the foothills of the Cascades. A few inches of rain will be possible over the next several days, along with snow in the higher elevations. Localized totals may end up measuring up to a foot in the northern Cascades.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769804264243.png">Over the next few days, the forecast calls for waves of moisture off and on, producing rain and snow showers.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/New Baron Video 3-1769804580316.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>More details on your Western Regional Forecast can be found :50 past the hour, every hour, on WeatherNation.

Rain Finally Makes a Return to the Northwest

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Dave Holder

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While it is now been several days since the winter storm that impacted millions across the country has departed, several hundred thousand customers remain without power, the majority across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 115407-1769712858232.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 115128-1769712806132.png">The Mississippi Delta region was particularly hit hard. Unfortunately, Extreme Cold Warnings are now in place for these same areas. The warnings extend south through New Orleans and the bayous.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 120225-1769713354141.png">In addition, cold alerts in the form of Advisories and Extreme Cold Watches to the east have been issued. The majority of these will be in effect from Friday night through Sunday morning.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 120602-1769713622639.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 120618-1769713605627.png">As of now, Sunday morning is forecasted to be the coldest night for most, with widespread record-breaking cold a possibility. Dangerous cold will be possible through Monday morning, potentially as far south as the Lower Keys.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-29 121316-1769714005491.png">The next few nights could be quite dangerous for those without power as temperatures drop. Make sure to check in on loved ones, neighbors, and pets, particularly those who may be sensitive to the harsh elements. Will continue to update this story on Weather Nation, including your Southeast Regional Forecast, every 10 past the hour.

Cold Alerts Issued as 150K+ Customers Remain Without Power

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Kevin Schneider

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You've been warned, iguanas. We've had glancing blows of cold weather recently, stunning a few cold-blooded reptiles. This one's going to be more widespread and could even bring the threat of snow as far south as Tampa.<div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IusUvOmydJc" start="0"></iframe></div><h1>COLD</h1>A developing low-pressure will cut across the Gulf Thursday and Friday. That will bring the threat of some impressive snow to the Carolinas before deciding if it wants to move up the coast or not. That system will leave the door WIDE OPEN behind it, letting the Arctic air flow much farther south than it has been recently. Overnight lows in the 30's will make it as far south as Miami, where they haven't seen the 30's for more than a decade!<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-28 101841-1769620728751.png">Even areas like the Tampa area will slip into the freezer by Sunday morning. That's where things might get interesting...<h1>GULF-EFFECT SNOW</h1>We've started shutting down the lake-effect machine a little bit--it's been that cold recently. Great Lake ice coverage has rocketed way above average for the time of year. Let's find another body of water. The Gulf won't freeze over!<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2016346284802629827" src="https://x.com/NWSWPC/status/2016346284802629827?s=20"></div>For any sort of "-effect" to happen (rain or snow) there just needs to be a sizable difference in temperatures. Some lesser-known include ocean-effect snow that can sometimes affect places like Nantucket, MA. This is similar, where cold, Arctic air will flow over warmer waters of the Gulf around the Big Bend this weekend.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-28 102535-1769621144325.png">The difference in temperatures will drive persistent showers onshore into Saturday into Sunday. The thinking is that temperatures could catch up to the showers, turning the rain over to snow. This won't be a long-lived setup, so is expected to be more novelty than anything. It's still wild that Florida could pick up snow twice in the same Winter, though! For the record, the last time Tampa picked up measurable snow was January 19, 1977.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Web 5-1769696171892.png">

Jesse Kelley

Gulf-Effect Snow Possible This Weekend

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Alana Cameron was born and raised in Canada in the city of Mississauga, just outside of Toronto. Alana is the oldest of 4 siblings, all close in age, and grew up playing outside with them in all types of weather. After graduating high school, Alana moved to study at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna for a year before transferring to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Atmospheric Science. Upon completion, Alana moved back to Toronto where she completed a post-grad degree in Meteorology at York University. After her post-grad, she went on to complete another post-grad in Broadcast Journalism - TV News at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. During her final year of studies she had the privilege of interning with the best in the business in Canada at The Weather Network. Once she finished her internship, she got the call from small-town Denison, Texas where she accepted a job as an on-air meteorologist at KTEN-TV, right in tornado alley, covering severe weather from Sherman/Denison (North Texas) to Ada (Southern Oklahoma). After the most active tornado season Oklahoma had seen in May 2019 (105 tornadoes!) Alana is excited to join WeatherNation to cover weather all across the nation. If you're interested in following her on social media she can be found @alanacameronwx!

Alana Cameron

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ABOVE - Up to one inch of ice accumulated across parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, weighing down power lines and transmission equipment and causing widespread outages. As of Tuesday afternoon, roughly 300,000 customers remain without power. The threat continues with dangerously cold overnight lows expected throughout the week - and these predictions were accurate as nearly 300,000 people were still without power Thursday AM. <img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Web 2-1769694288159.png">The impacts of this storm are expected to linger throughout the rest of the week. With power still out, many are still in danger as cold temperatures pose a serious risk. Lows are expected to remain well below freezing each night, increasing concerns for hypothermia, frozen pipes, and additional infrastructure damage.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Web 1-1769694270374.png"><h3>Wintry Precipitation Totals</h3>Snow started Friday in the South before switching over to sleet and ice on Saturday with our first round of precipitation. Our top snowfall totals maxed out around a foot for cities such as Little Rock, Arkansas.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-26 171858-1769473186656.png">Sleet altered the forecast a bit for some, with up to 5 inches reported in cities such as Catholic Point, Arkansas.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-26 172017-1769473290101.png">In the Midwest, cities like Indianapolis, Indiana, received over 10 inches of snowfall from this storm.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-26 171920-1769473316826.png">In the northeast, this was a snow-only event. Cities near Boston received almost 2 feet of snowfall, resulting in a city-wide snow day on Monday!<h3><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-26 171906-1769473390953.png">Headlines</h3><ul><li>Icing in Tennessee caused portions of the interstate (65) to be shut down after a truck lost control, hit a sign, and caused it to collapse.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2015869851844411634" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2015869851844411634"></div><div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u-MQ4nDMG1U" start="0"></iframe></div></li><li>Several fatalities have been confirmed from this winter storm, including a teenage girl in Frisco, Texas, being pulled by a sled by a Jeep on Sunday morning.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2015904286497206685" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2015904286497206685"></div> </li><li>The city of Boston had a snow day after the mayor closed schools on Sunday for Monday.</li></ul><div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2015847206176133150" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2015847206176133150"></div>For more details on power outages and the forecast ahead, be sure to join us LIVE on WeatherNation.

Tracey Anthony

Thousands Without Power as another Systems Brews

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Taban Sharifi grew up in Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego. She is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) with the American Meteorological Society (AMS). She has a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Go Bruins! While in school, Taban was a meteorology intern with NBC LA. There she helped forecast daily weather for the greater Los Angeles region and created a playbook to deploy weather sensors for NBC owned-and-operated stations across the country. Her first on-air job took her to San Angelo, Texas, where she was a morning meteorologist and co-anchor. Working in West Texas gave her knowledge and experience covering severe storms. From there, she moved to Palm Springs, California. People think forecasting in California is sunshine all the time, but with temperatures in the 120’s, wildfires, damaging winds, floodings, and earthquakes, the forecasting kept her very busy! She also worked there as a general assignment reporter and told community stories. Taban is excited for the challenge and opportunity to forecast nationally with WeatherNation. She also looks forward to exploring all that Colorado has to offer!

Taban Sharifi

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Temperatures have been record-breaking with how cold it has been over the last week. There is no relief in sight with the cold air. Even as temperatures look as if they may rebound, they drop again by the weekend.A few cold alerts will stick around through Thursday morning across portions of the Midwest to the Northeast.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769634366421.png">In addition, the cold makes its way all the way down to Florida. Frost and freeze alerts are in effect through Thursday morning across a large area of Florida and south Georgia, as well as some counties in Louisiana.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769634408214.png">Cold temperatures will remain in the pattern through the weekend. Lows will again drop to below zero across parts of the Northeast.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769634467664.png">For the Southeast, cities like Tampa will see lows in the 30s Thursday morning with highs by Sunday in the 40s!<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/1-1769634576099.png">Miami even has a forecast low of 39 degrees on Sunday! If it was to get this low, it'll be the first time in just over 15 years that Miami's seen a low temperature in the 30s!<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Web4-1769598242446.png">If you're across the deep south, extreme cold weather doesn't come too often. However, when it does, remembering the 4 P's is always helpful.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot 2026-01-27 162948-1769556593983.png">Tune in to WeatherNation for more of your top weather headlines. All your regional forecasts can also be found :10, :30, and :50 past the hour.

Cold Air Sticks Around the Central to Eastern U.S.

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As folks stepped out Thursday morning to check how much snow they had gotten or to assess the conditions, they saw a brown tint to the fresh snow.

https://twitter.com/TwisterMc/status/1116533395713138690

https://twitter.com/LogelinMike/status/1116482898809507840

https://twitter.com/mark_tarello/status/1116354136654659589

Some people even noticed the rain having a brown hue to it...once it evaporated off this person's car.

https://twitter.com/cecelsu/status/1116403793145540610

The reason? The powerful winter storm was swirling across the central United States on Wednesday-Thursday, whipping winds of 50-100 miles per hour through many layers of our atmosphere. Dust and dirt began to be sucked into the southern extent of the storm in New Mexico and Texas on Wednesday.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106319" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2019/04/camp-fire-1.jpg" alt="" width="962" height="967" />

Switching color schemes, you can see the dust and sand in yellow colors here:

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106320" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2019/04/air-quality-1.jpg" alt="" width="1297" height="777" />

Fast forward to Thursday morning where the low pressure helped pull all that dust and sand into the Upper Midwest!

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106321" src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2019/04/Capture-8.jpg" alt="" width="1279" height="746" />

***Above three images courtesy the University of Wisconsin CIMSS Blog Page. <a href="http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/">Full story on this topic here.</a>

The result was a dirtier snow than normal.

https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities/status/1116368935878844416

Even the National Weather Service office in La Crosse, Wisconsin had a little fun with the fellow NWS office in Amarillo.

https://twitter.com/NWSLaCrosse/status/1116417977497337856

This has happened before. According to the University of Wisconsin's CIMSS Satellite Blog, a similar event occurred on April 10-11, 2008. <a href="http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/639">Here's a link to that story.</a>

Thus, people weren't adding a brown filter to their pictures on social media Thursday. The snow really was on the brown side. If they say 'Don't eat the yellow snow' then we wonder if the same applies to the brown snow!

For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier

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Persistent bursts of cold air have continued

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Cold Alerts Issued as 150K+ Customers Remain Without Power

While it is now been several days since the w

Gulf-Effect Snow Possible This Weekend

You've been warned, iguanas. We've had glanci

Thousands Without Power as another Systems Brews

ABOVE - Up to one inch of ice accumulated acr

Cold Air Sticks Around the Central to Eastern U.S.

Temperatures have been record-breaking with h