The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned the eastern U.S. could be hit with major storms similar to those the West coast has seen in the final week of 2021.
In a Short Range Forecast up to December 29, the NWS said that the "unrelenting troughing pattern," which has seen inches of snowfall in Northern California and Oregon, will move east.
"This results in an increasingly active storm track in the East as storm systems originating out West track through the eastern half of the Lower 48 this week."
Forecasters said that a storm is unfolding in Upper Midwest on Monday morning that could bring a "shield of precipitation" stretching from northern Minnesota to the northern mid-Atlantic, with as much as six inches of snow possible in the Minnesota Arrowhead.
Further east, there are warnings of possible travel delays in the central Great Lakes and northern mid-Atlantic regions as rising warmer air could result in icy conditions.
Periods of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in Ohio Valley and into the mid-South could also see localized flooding occur from southern Missouri to the Ohio Valley on Tuesday.
Areas such as Montana and North Dakota will struggle to get above 0 F, with blustery conditions leading to dangerously cold wind chills ranging as low as -30 F to - 50 F.
The NWS added part of the West coast could still see further snow. The forecast said another storm "already causing heavy mountain snow" will move along the West Coast Intermountain West Monday night and into Tuesday morning.
There were warnings of a further one to two feet of snow falling on Sierra Nevada, with up to three feet possible in the highest elevations.
"From the Wasatch to the Colorado Rockies, mountain snow totals appear to be on the order of eight to 12 inches with localized amounts up to two feet," the NWS forecast states.
"This next western U.S. storm system then heads into the Plains by Tuesday where a strengthening low pressure system is primed to bring another round of wintry weather to the Upper Midwest with anywhere from a coating to six inches possible."
Icy conditions could also affect travel from Iowa and the central Great Lakes Tuesday morning, to the interior northern Mid-Atlantic by Tuesday evening.
On Sunday, the NWS in Reno warned residents to stay off the road due to the icy conditions and 52mph winds hitting the Nevada city amid the winter storm.
The same day, the Washoe County Sheriff's Office said three people were sent to hospital following a 20-vehicle pile-up on the southbound lane of U.S. Route 395 near Lake Tahoe amid poor driving conditions and visibility.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
