Arctic Cold, Major Winter Storm This Weekend

A blast of arctic air has already streamed southward east of the Rockies on Friday and that is setting up a major winter storm for the weekend. Showers have started to develop across Kansas and Texas and will fill in across the Southern Plains the rest of Friday. The storm system will gather strength overnight, moving east-northeast through the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic over the weekend. A widespread band of heavy, mixed precipitation will result in heavy snowfall, sleet, and freezing rain accumulations for a large portion of the country. The arctic air will remain in place going into next week, prolonging the effects.