A winterlike storm that continues to unload snow and ice over the southern Rockies and Zeta, a tropical storm currently spinning over the south-central Gulf of Mexico, are forecast to combine forces and bring the northeastern United States drenching rain and even accumulating snow in some locations before the week draws to a close.
Forecasters are calling for Zeta to then move inland and take a curved path over the South Central and Eastern states late this week. The storm that continues to bring cold air and snow and heavy ice to several Southwest states is also forecast to lose intensity as it moves northeastward, but both systems may aid each other, reorganize and merge in such a way as to generate drenching rain, gusty winds and heavy mountain snow in the Northeast.
Zeta is predicted to spend many hours over the interior southern U.S. before it meets up with enough cold air to produce snow. Only fast forward motion will allow Zeta to retain some of its wind field and produce gusty winds from the southern Appalachians to the mid-Atlantic coast.
“The setup for the Northeast will involve a fresh injection of cold air as high pressure will build eastward from the Great Lakes region spanning Thursday and Friday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike Doll said.
Without the fresh cold air, only rain would fall or most rain and just a few wet snowflakes at the tail end of the storm.
Regardless of the fresh cold air ingredient, the storm will start off as rain spreading over the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic on Thursday then reaching New England Thursday night.
During Thursday night to Friday, as colder air is drawn in, rain is forecast to become mixed with and change to wet snow over the mountains of central and northern Pennsylvania, the southern tier of New York state and western and central New England.
With a full changeover to snow now anticipated over the mountains, a moderate to heavy accumulation is appearing more likely over the higher terrain into Friday.
“Snow could be seen even at some of the valley locations in western and central Pennsylvania, the southern tier of New York state and interior western New England as well, should enough cold air be drawn in,” Doll said.
In the mid-Atlantic and along the southern coast of New England and eastern Massachusetts, the storm duo will bring drenching rain and windy conditions.
Any shift in the press of dry and cold air could have an impact not only on the northern extent of the rain and snow but also the entire notion of a change to snow and its intensity in the first place, according to forecasters. Should the dry air press in more forcefully, then it could limit most of the rain and any snow farther to the south across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, northern New Jersey and the Connecticut hills.
On the other hand, if the push of dry air is much weaker, then rain could reach all the way to southern Ontario and Quebec. In the latter scenario, snow may be less widespread if cold air is kept at bay and remains locked up to the north.
