This may not be the news that anyone outside of ski resorts wants to hear, but on top of the snow, ice, and extreme cold that have already blanketed much of the country, some parts of the East Coast could see another bout of winter precipitation over the weekend.
Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said various weather models show possible storms over the weekends of January 31 and February 1.
Santorelli said that given the cold temperatures that have already occurred, a developing low-pressure system along the coast could bring more snow, sleet or rain to areas that experienced the winter storm on January 26.
The massive winter storm brought more than 20 inches of snow and sleet to coastal areas and caused more than 1 million power outages. A blast of frigid arctic air blows in behind the storm, causing temperatures to plummet again, stretching from Texas to Maine and south to central Florida.
“There’s no way of knowing with certainty where the storm will form, where the precipitation might fall and what kind of precipitation it might be,” Santorelli said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about its trajectory and how much precipitation might fall in the east.”
Cold temperatures will move into the United States on January 26, bringing more sub-zero wind chills to much of the country on the morning of January 27.
Early indications from models suggest parts of the Gulf Coast and East Coast could begin to be affected by the next storm as early as Friday, Jan. 30, according to forecasters at private weather company AccuWeather.
“How quickly the storm intensifies will be the deciding factor in determining its final path this weekend and whether it moves toward the East Coast,” said Paul Pasterok, AccuWeather’s long-range outlook specialist.
AccuWeather forecasts that rain is likely south of Interstate 10 from Louisiana to Florida, with snow possible in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and northern Georgia. AccuWeather forecasts that as the storm moves east into Saturday, there could be rain in Florida and cold weather in the Carolinas.
Dinah Voyles Pulver is a national reporter for USA TODAY, writing about weather, climate change and other news. Contact her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X on Signal or dinahvp.77.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Another winter storm this weekend? Early forecast includes cold, snow and rain