Snow totals building from Utah into a gusty Maine paint the picture for today.
Looking to overstay its welcome, the low pressure system badgering the Northeast with flurries and sharp gusts will hover and intensify over southeastern Canada. Be sure to secure any outdoor materials as winds could gust at 40 to 55 mph today from the Adirondacks into the White Mountains, with lighter gusts more likely along more southerly ridges and areas before nighttime. Light snow accumulations, on the order of 2 to 5 inches will pile in northeastern Maine and central New York, while flurries up to 2 inches sweep over the southern Great Lakes under a cold front.
The biggest snow day is in store for the south-central Rockies and north-central Plains amidst an exiting low pressure system, albeit weakening. In the mountains, the system's backside and an upper-level disturbance will kick up lowland showers, mid-level wintry mix, and highland snow squalls, with snow dominating further north into the central Rockies. In the north-central Plains, a tight gradient of snow will fall in the morning and early afternoon north of the low and south of an incoming cold front.
Surprisingly, the deepest snow piles build with over a foot of accumulation in the high ridges of the Four Corners states, with 6 to 12 inches just downslope. For a much wider area of the Plains, totals from 1 to 6 inches are more likely, including from Wyoming into Iowa. Flurries are set at the periphery of the main snow showers, although some short-lived rain could prelude the snow through the southern Great Lakes states and into the Mid-Atlantic at night. Rain dominates in central Appalachia from the evening onward.
The only other disturbances today will be late night rain entering the Pacific Northwest and scattered thunderstorms and showers surrounding Louisiana.
Highs soaring to the 90s return to southern Texas today, and 80s stretch into Florida's tip and central Texas. Hot 70s will rise in the Mid-South and the Gulf Coast. More temperate 50s and 60s will warm the West Coast and the rest of the South while 30s and 40s chill the Mid-Atlantic through the northern and central Plains, along with the Intermountain West. Sub-freezing 20s and 10s will shiver the Interior Northeast and western ridges.
