Winter's snow machine continues for the Northeast and Great Lakes this week as a series of systems pulls across the region.
Not only snow, but Arctic air will surge southward as well, causing temperatures to dive across the eastern half of the country. This, along with strong winds, will create dangerous wind chills for millions.
Round 1: Through Thursday
The first system is diving into portions of the Midwest and Great Lakes to bring a round of snow through Wednesday, bringing a quick shot of snow to the upper Midwest and Great Lakes. Then the system will bring lingering snow into the interior portions of New England on Thursday.
While the heaviest snow will be downwind of the Great Lakes, we could see some decent snow totals for portions of the Appalachians. And more snow will add to these totals later in the week.
More widespread snow amounts will be in the 1- to 3-inch range, from the Midwest, through the Ohio Valley and into Interior New England.
Models are keeping the snow well away from the I-95 corridor with this round.
Round 2: Thursday - Saturday
The next round of snow will arrive in the Midwest and Great Lakes on Thursday before pushing eastward. Many of the same areas that see snow from the first system would receive snow from this one, adding to those snow totals.
However, as this system potentially makes its way to the Northeast and New England late Friday, into Saturday, we couldpotentiallysee accumulating snow for the I-95 corridor. This could make for messy driving conditions and possible airport delays, though the models don't agree yet on whether or not wintry weather is on the way.
It's too early to know how much snow there will be at this point, as models are still trying to come together. Needless to say, confidence is still low on how that piece of the puzzle plays out.
Either way, we could still see some lingering snow across portions of the Northeast through Sunday.
Confidence is high that temperatures will tumble. Highs on Thursday will be in the teens across the Great Lakes, 20s for the Ohio Valley and not even getting out of the 30s for portions of the Southeast.
Not only will temperatures plummet, but strong winds behind the cold front will send wind chills to dangerous levels for some locations. We could be talking about wind chills as low as 20-30 degreesbelowzero for portions of the Northern Plains.
Round 3: Sunday
Mother Nature isn't finished yet! Towards the end of the weekend, a third system could once again reinforce those chilly temperatures and bring another round of fresh snow for yet again, the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast.
Models are a little uncertain about the timing and intensity of this one, and it could hold off until early next week.
When it's all said and done, some areas across the Great Lakes could pick up as much as 18 inches of snow for the week, with more widespread areas seeing at least a foot.
Also, take notice of the decent swath of snow stretching down the Appalachian Mountains. The higher elevations could pick up more than a foot of snow in some places.
We will keep fine-tuning these details as the week goes on, so check back often for updates.
Jennifer Grayis a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.
