One-Two Punch Of Snow Hits Great Lakes, Northeast

Two rounds of quick-hitting fluffy snow and winter chill will be on the menu from the Midwest to the Northeast to kick off the start of the new week.

A pair of Clipper storm systems will dive from the Dakotas to Ohio and away from the eastern New England coast through Tuesday. The first storm will produce accumulating snow from near Chicago, Ill., and South Bend, Ind., to Columbus and Mansfield, Ohio, and Pittsburgh before fizzling out late on Sunday.

Winter Weather Advisories stretch from northern Illinois to western Pennsylvania and the northern parts of West Virginia. Most locations will have to brush away a few inches of fluffy snow, though locally 6 to 8 inches is possible near Michigan City, Ind., near Lake Michigan. Travel will be difficult, especially along Interstates 35, 70, 75, 80 and 94.

A second low pressure system will take a similar course across the northern U.S. tonight through Tuesday. A little more moisture-deprived than its predecessor, a slick 1 to 3 inches with locally higher totals would be possible from the central Dakotas to eastern New England.

Meanwhile, no huge pattern change is expected across the central and eastern U.S. for the upcoming week. Each system will keep or reinforce the cold weather pattern in place.

Hard Freeze and Freeze Warnings are in place along the central Gulf Coast and in northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia. Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La., Gulfport, Miss., Waycross, Ga., and Lake City, Gainesville and Ocala, Fla. are included. Several hours of sub-freezing temperatures will be enough to kill sensitive vegetation if not protected properly and could damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.

Any early-week warmup will be short-lived nearly everywhere east of the Rockies. A new surge of Arctic air will spill into the northern Plains, Upper and Middle Mississippi valleys and Great Lakes on Tuesday where highs will range from below zero near the U.S.-Canada border to the upper 20s in St. Louis. More single digits above zero degree temperatures, teens, 20s and 30s will reach most of the Atlantic beaches on Thursday north of the Tennessee Valley and Carolinas.