Next major storm to bring mostly rain to southern, eastern US

ALEX.SOSNOWSKI

Dec 10th 2018 3:45PM

The next major storm for the southern and eastern United States, currently scheduled from Thursday, Dec. 13, to Sunday, Dec. 16, is likely to bring rain and not snow or ice to many locations that were hit and others that were missed by the storm this past weekend.

Dry weather is in store for much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation until the latter part of the week in the South Central states and much of the Northeast until the weekend.

While cold air was entrenched in the Southern and Eastern states at the start of this week, the flow of fresh arctic air will be shut off this week and this coming weekend. The cold air in place will slowly moderate, while a flow of milder air from the Pacific becomes established as the week progresses.

Temperatures are forecast to trend to near or slightly above average over much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation by the end of this week.

On Friday, highs are forecast to range form the middle 30s F in Minneapolis and the middle 40s in Boston to the lower 50s in Oklahoma City and the middle 50s in Atlanta.

The moderating temperature trend is key for the primary form of precipitation that the next storm will bring.

"That next storm is likely to bring rain and drizzle from much of the southern Plains to the middle Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley and in places in the Southeast states that had heavy snow and ice from the last storm," according to AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist Max Vido.

The same storm is forecast to swing much farther to the north than the last with the possibility of some rain falling on parts of the Mississippi Valley and central Great Lakes region and the likelihood of rain for much of the Northeast.

"Storms like the one coming up late this week can be a little tricky, even though there may be no arctic air present," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno.

"Cold air from aloft can be tapped and can sometimes produce a narrow band of wet snow in areas surrounded by mild air and do so fairly far south," Rayno said.

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