A significant storm tracking out of the Midwest and into the Northeast today will be followed by a sharp blast of cold air from Canada. Temperatures will be close to 0 degrees Fahrenheit in the northern Plains on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a storm bringing significant snow to the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico today will most likely bring another round of snow to northern Texas, with the heaviest snow to the south of Dallas, from tonight into Tuesday.
The biggest storm of the week might be found as it draws to a close. The merger of cold air and a storm along the East Coast has the potential to produce a wind-whipped snowstorm in New England. Early indications are that the storm might miss the areas hardest hit by snow this year -- from Philadelphia southward to Washington, D.C. -- but the return of a more well-defined southern storm track by the latter part of the week might open the door for an intense storm next week.
Susan Walsh, AP
A weather pattern resembling the one during the heart of this memorable winter could spell trouble in the coming weeks. Here, Brooks Chamberlin of Annapolis, Md., shovels her sidewalk on Feb. 10.
A potent storm will most likely move through southern California later this week, and storms moving through southern California often end up becoming major storms along the Eastern Seaboard several days later. If this California storm does materialize, then there is the potential for a major East Coast storm, including in the Mid-Atlantic region, during the first part of next week. It's impossible to predict whether the storm would produce snow or rain for the major cities; regardless, the potential of the current weather pattern is a return of major storms from coast to coast.
The weather pattern in the coming weeks is similar to the pattern during the heart of this memorable winter, with an active Southern storm track, intermittent blasts of Arctic air, and the occasional merging of Northern and Southern storms.
This trio of meteorological powerhouses has resulted in the wild weather pattern. Rain and mountain snow have been impressive enough in California to seriously dent a three-year drought, and storms tracking from the Desert Southwest through the Plains and into the Southeast have produced bouts of heavy rain and an unusual amount of snow as they interacted with the abundant cold air.
The Southern storms often merged with Northern storms along the Eastern Seaboard to produce monstrous snowstorms in a record-breaking snowfall year in the Mid-Atlantic region. For a time, the cold northerly flow was able to diminish the Southern storms and set the stage for record cold extending from the Plains to south Florida.
These same weather factors aren't a guarantee of identical results, of course. Just as a chef can mix similar ingredients to create a different dish, the same weather factors can be combined to result in different daily weather patterns; however, some of the same types of weather that made the winter memorable are certainly possible, and wild weather of some kind is certainly likely.
Keep your seat belts buckled: The wild winter weather ride is not over.