Winter Storm Boreas is bringing heavy snow to parts of the southern Rockies and Four Corners, and will spread a wintry mess of snow, sleet and freezing rain into parts of the Southern Plains.

The storm already has affected much of the Western U.S., causing hundreds of rollover accidents and prompting officials to cancel events and close roads. So far, Boreas has caused at least eight deaths and prompted travel advisories Saturday afternoon in New Mexico and Texas.

Southwest

The heaviest snowfall totals from Winter Storm Boreas will be found in the southern Rockies, due both to a tap of deep moisture and a slow-moving upper-level low pressure system over the Southwest.
As of Saturday morning, snow totals of 10 to 25 inches have been recorded in the mountains of southeast

Utah and the southwest San Juan mountains of Colorado. In northern New Mexico, Taos ski area has picked up 17 inches of snow so far.

When all is said and done, storm total accumulations of one to three feet will be common in southwest Colorado, northern New Mexico and southern Utah. Travel will be difficult, particularly over mountain passes in these areas.

The heaviest snow will continue through early Sunday in these areas, then taper off to lighter snow later Sunday into Monday.

Texas, Oklahoma: Ice and Snow

The Southern Plains have been dealing with bouts of light freezing rain, sleet and some snow since Friday. Oklahoma City, Lubbock, Texas and Abilene, Texas are just a few of the locations that have been dealing with this wintry weather.

A more significant wave of sleet, freezing rain, or snow will head out in the Southern Plains Saturday night into Sunday and persist into early Monday.

This wave will bring accumulating freezing rain and/or sleet as far east as the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, where a winter storm warning is now posted.

Ice is also possible along the I-35 corridor to as far south as Austin Sunday into Sunday night. Some icing may also spread as far east as Arkansas and northern Louisiana Sunday night into early Monday.

Boreas Heads East

Winter Storm Boreas may have a second chapter if a frontal system spreading rain through the Southeast U.S. on Tuesday eventually turns northward and teams up with a plunge of cold air arriving from southern Canada and the Great Lakes.

At this point, we must stress that this portion of the forecast is very uncertain since computer models remain in disagreement about the exact track of the storm. An area of low pressure tracking into the Northeast would have a much greater impact than one heading farther out to sea.

Our current forecast is based on the expectation that the low will pass through the Northeast. This would bring a potential for accumulating snow to parts of the interior Northeast beginning late Tuesday night, continuing through Wednesday.

While it is too far out in time to pain any specifics, at this time, it appears the immediate I-95 corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C. would see mainly rain from this storm if our current forecast scenario pans out. That said, we can't rule out some light snow accumulations on the tail end of Boreas, particularly in the western and northern suburbs.

Despite this, there could be significant delays at the major hubs of the Northeast Wednesday, so plan ahead and check your flight status before arriving at the airport.

 

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