The calendar says ‘May’ but temperatures this week may feel more like late winter than mid-spring thanks to a weather pattern that will lock in cold air for much of the eastern and western portions of the country.
After a weekend that included more severe weather in parts of Virginia and Florida, cooler temperatures might feel like a welcome change amid a calmer atmosphere.
The weather pattern means that some parts of Michigan could get more than a foot of May snow, while some residents in the West could also see snow accumulations in higher elevations and more rain could move into the Ohio River Valley and the mid-Atlantic.
Here’s what to know about Tuesday’s weather.
Cold, snow in Great Lakes
Snow started falling in the area over the weekend and could end up dropping more than a foot in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before the system moves out of the region. Other areas could see 4 to 8 inches of snow before the weather weakens and moves to the East on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Plummeting temperatures as system moves East
Temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were below average to start the week and they’ll only get colder as that storm system creeps east from the Great Lakes, forecasters say. Luckily, the system’s “main band of precipitation” is forecast to bring rain into the Ohio River Valley and portions of the Northeast but it should be mostly rain – with any snow accumulations limited to higher elevations.
Unsettled weather in the West
A low-pressure system is forecast to move south along the West Coast with initial impacts – cool temperatures, scattered showers and some snow in higher elevations – limited to areas west of the Sierra Nevada(CQ) and portions of western Washington and Oregon, according to the National Weather Service. Scattered thunderstorms are possible in the northern and central Rockies on Tuesday, as well, and flooding concerns remain in place due to rapid snow melt.