First winter storm of 2015 brings travel mess
The first winter storm system of 2015 brought a nasty mixture of rain, snow and ice to a large portion of the USA and wreaked havoc on travel Saturday.
Next it's looking to get colder.
The mix of precipitation affected a swath from the Oklahoma Panhandle — where several inches of snow were in the forecast — to southern New England, where up to a quarter-inch of ice is possible in the eastern Berkshires.
The storm will spread into the Northeast on Saturday night, bringing enough ice to cause power outages from central Pennsylvania to Upstate New York and into northern New England , according to AccuWeather.
Freezing rain had already caused several accidents and road closures by Saturday morning near Pittsburgh and Morgantown, W.Va.
"Northern New England has the potential for a significant snow and ice event with multiple hours of slippery travel on the front side of the storm prior to any warm-up," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bernie Rayno.
"At this time, it appears most locations along the I-95 swath from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and New York City would still warm up quickly with all or mostly rain from the storm," Rayno said.
In the South, severe thunderstorms could affect the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys into Saturday night, AccuWeather reported.
The heaviest snowfall was forecast for the Midwest — mainly from Wisconsin to northern Michigan — from Saturday night into early Sunday.
Cold air was expected to park behind the storm system after it moves out Sunday. By midweek, a batch of bitter Arctic air will move in, bringing the coldest weather of the season to parts of the Midwest and much of New England and the Mid-Atlantic, AccuWeather reported.
By Tuesday, parts of the Midwest will see below-zero temperatures, while lows will reach single-digits along the East Coast. The chilly weather is even expected to move as far south as New Orleans.
High temperatures were forecast to remain in the 20s for multiple days from Boston to New York City to Philadelphia, and gusty winds could make the air feel even colder.
Contributing: The Associated Press