2:25 PM | **Brutal cold returns later next week and it should be preceded by more accumulating snow**
Paul Dorian
Discussion
Brutal cold air is headed back to the Mid-Atlantic region for the second half of next week and it should be preceded by more accumulating snow. In fact, there are as many as four separate threats for snow next week as we make the transition from our current mild weather pattern to some more painful cold.
The first threat for snow does not look too significant at the current time, but it still has to be closely monitored. This threat for snow is for Sunday night/early Monday and will occur when an initial blast of cold air pushes into the Mid-Atlantic region ending the mild weather pattern. The second threat for snow in The Mid-Atlantic region comes during the day on Tuesday as an upper-level disturbance drops southeastward from the Great Lakes towards the east coast.
A third threat comes early Wednesday for the Mid-Atlantic region. By mid-week, a brutally cold air mass will have already invaded the Upper Midwest and it will have its eye set on the Mid-Atlantic region. In fact, temperatures in the Upper Midwest could be an amazing 40-50 degrees below normal by Wednesday in an area that has suffered the most during this widespread cold winter. As this brutally cold air mass - which had its origins in Siberia - approaches the east coast, it is likely to help generate low pressure near the Mid-Atlantic coastline and the result could be accumulating snow early Wednesday in the I-95 corridor from DC-to-Philly-to-NYC. Once that low pressure system departs, bone-crushing cold will take over in the Mid-Atlantic region for Wednesday night, Thursday and Thursday night.
Finally, a fourth threat for snow comes around Saturday of next week as a strong wave of energy pulls out of the Deep South towards the southeast U.S. coastline. It is way too early to tell; however, if this system will then make a ride up the east coast or if it will be suppressed to the south as a result of the extensive Arctic air mass that will be entrenched in much of the eastern U.S. at that time.
One final note: only 37 days till Opening Day.