Impressive Winter Storm Hits U.S. (Credit: NOAA NWS Weather Prediction Center)

DISCUSSION: A low-pressure system first developing near the Rocky Mountains impacted the United States as it travelled in a northeast direction. A low-pressure system is a system associated with cloudy or stormy weather that has lower pressure in its center as opposed to the areas around it. In the Northern Hemisphere, winds spin in a counter-clockwise rotation around a low-pressure system. This particular low-pressure system slammed the Midwest with vast amounts of snow and ice before moving towards New England where it mostly deposited freezing rain.

The largest impact from this storm occurred in the Plains and then spread into the Midwest. The winter storm dropped an impressive amount of ice and snow in its path. From 6 A.M. CST January 22 to 6 A.M. CST January 23, Prescott, Wisconsin and Winnebago, Minnesota respectively received 14.1 and 17.0 inches of snow. All of that within a 24-hour period!  Pictured above is the total snowfall analysis from over this 24-hour period. From the color bar scale on the lower right-hand side, you can see that a significant amount of snow fell in these areas. The interesting fact about this storm is how it greatly impacted three separate regions across the United States. First, Idaho and Colorado were affected. Moving east, it seemed to drop the most amount of precipitation over the Midwest before finishing off in the northeastern tip of New England.

Currently, the low-pressure system is moving away from New England, but still affecting certain areas. Maine experienced freezing rain with coatings up to a quarter inch of ice. It has recently switched over to moderate snow showers. Flood watches and warnings are also in effect for areas of Southern Maine, as well as Lancaster and York counties located in southeastern Pennsylvania. The center of the low is moving rapidly towards the Canadian Maritimes. Effects from this storm will diminish shortly-- if they have not done so already.

To learn more about other interesting storms impacting North America, be sure to click here!

© 2018 Meteorologist Claudia Pukropski