Winter weather alerts are in place for parts of 17 states as two separate storm systems bring heavy snowfall to New England and northern states through the weekend.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued winter storm warnings for Alaska, California, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. Advisories are also in place for Connecticut, the Dakotas, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
In its latest forecast, the NWS said a weather front will produce snow showers over the Midwest and Great Lakes on Friday. It will then shift into the Ohio Valley to dump a swath of heavy snow over areas downwind of Lake Ontario and into New England.
Parts of New England have already seen some late-winter snow due to another storm this week. Up to a foot of snowfall is predicted for the region by Sunday morning.
In Maine, up to an additional 18 inches of snow is expected, with winds of up to 40 miles an hour creating areas of blowing snow that will reduce visibility. A light glaze of ice is also anticipated, making for slippery surfaces.
Up to 18 inches of snow is also forecast for New Hampshire, along with sleet, ice and winds of up to 35 miles an hour.
As much as 17 inches of snow is anticipated in Vermont and New York, with the weight of the snow on tree limbs enough to cause scattered power outages. Vermont will also see a 10th of an inch of ice accumulation.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut, up to 2 inches of snow is expected, along with ice accumulations of up to a 10th of an inch.
Moving into the Great Lakes, up to 7 inches of snow is predicted in Michigan, while Wisconsin can expect as much as 6 inches of snow. This will continue into the northern border counties of Illinois and northeastern Iowa, where up to 5 to 6 inches of snow are also forecast.
In central Minnesota, up to 7 inches of snow is expected. This swath of winter weather will also impact southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota, with up to 6 inches and 1 inch, respectively, predicted.
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
At the same time, a separate system is set to bring unsettled weather to the West this weekend, with heavy rainfall expected over coastal regions and up to 4 feet of snow in mountain areas.
“This system will weaken as it moves inland and spreads snow showers across the Rockies on Saturday,” the NWS said. “By Sunday, this system will begin to redevelop over the Front Range into a significant winter storm.”
Earlier in the month, a powerful winter storm from the Pacific brought in excess of 12 feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada range, as well as several feet of snow and blizzard conditions to higher-elevation regions of neighboring states.
Another winter storm made landfall earlier the same week before moving into the Intermountain West, bringing intense snowfall from Utah to Wyoming and Colorado.
Along the Sierra Nevada range of California, up to 3 feet of snow is expected at elevations above 7,000 feet, as well as up to 2 feet above 6,000 feet. Winds are set to gust as high as 45 miles an hour.
In northwestern Montana, snow accumulations could reach 1 foot in the Rocky Mountains, with lower totals elsewhere in the region.
Up to 14 inches of snow is expected above 7,000 in the Lake Tahoe area of Nevada, with winds gusting as high as 80 miles an hour over ridge lines. Up to 1 foot of snow is predicted for the Sierra region of the state.
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