By Henry Margusity, Expert Senior Meteorologist
While the details of what areas will get smacked by a major snowstorm this weekend are still being sorted out, one thing is certain, the storm has the potential bring a travel nightmare to many areas.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists are predicting a storm will move from the northern Plains into the Ohio Valley, then redevelop off the mid-Atlantic coast. On that path, the storm will produce a swath of plowable snow from the Dakotas through the Midwest and Great Lakes and into the Northeast.
The storm has the potential to explode into a major snowstorm that could produce in excess of 6 inches of snow over a large area of the Northeast states and eastern Canada.
AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Joe Bastardi says that it is the type of storm that could close roads in some areas.
Based on the latest information Tuesday morning, the areas from Missouri to western New York could be hit by the greatest impacts from the snow. The danger we see is a storm that produces almost blizzard conditions over a large area of the Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes.
For Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee, it appears that snow will fall and that travel problems in those cities could be significant this weekend.
The storm this weekend is part of a wintry weather pattern that has developed across the eastern part of the country. The storm is also potentially one of several storms that could bring a white Christmas to many areas across the Midwest and Northeast.
Bastardi is predicting that the pattern will result in over 50 percent of the country having a white Christmas which is well above the average coverage of less than 25 percent of the country which is usually covered by snow Christmas Day.