U.S. Weather Forecast: Weather forecast for Friday: Snow, arctic air disrupts post-New Year’s day travel

Arctic air will linger from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast on Friday. As the latest clipper storm moves offshore, more rounds of lake-effect snow will create difficult travel conditions over the northern and eastern portions of the Great Lakes. Many of these areas already have several feet of snow on the ground from lake-effect snow in recent days.

Farther southwest, a storm developing in Arkansas will begin to tap moisture from the Gulf. Areas from part of the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana, Kentucky and part of Missouri will receive showers Friday. A few spots will also get some thunder and lightning. This same storm will cross the Southeast on Saturday with rain and a bit of snow on its northern edge in southern Virginia. Most areas from the Dakotas to Texas will be dry.

In the West, while California experiences a lull in rain on Friday, sporadic rain will extend from that state to Washington, Utah, Idaho and western Montana. Snow will fall over the high country of the Sierra Nevada, as well as the Cascades and the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming. A big storm will move onshore from the Pacific this weekend into next week. Northern California will receive the heaviest rain and mountain snow. Multiple feet of snow are forecast to fall on the Sierra Nevada.
FOCUS: Weather Pattern Change Next Week

Milder Pacific air is expected to shift into the eastern portion of the country next week as the jet stream becomes more west to east across the Lower 48 states. For much of December, the jet stream was oriented from the northwest to southeast, bringing in cold.