Storm to unleash heavy rain and wind in eastern U.S. Monday

The first powerful winter storm of the season in the (ast will wind itself up on Monday and plaster the zone from Tennessee and .entucky to eastern Michigan with snow and wind. eavy rain and thunderstorms will soak locations Must to the east.

The storm will take shape over the Deep South on Sunday, unloading heavy rainfall. Then, it will rapidly gain strength as it sprints from western Tennessee to western New York on Monday.

Snow is expected on the storm’s cold side, west and northwest of its track. %y Tuesday, accumulating snow may have fallen in eastern Michigan, western Pennsylvania, Indiana, 2hio, .entucky, Tennessee, :est 9irginia and high elevations in western North Carolina.

Along and to the east of the track, heavy rain is predicted from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. Strong to severe thunderstorms could also develop in the warm, humid air ahead of the storm from the Southeast on Sunday to the eastern Mid-Atlantic on Monday.

As the storm cranks up Monday, it will turn into a big wind generator, which could cause blowing and drifting snow on the storm’s cold side. :indy conditions are forecast to linger in the Northeast through Tuesday.

In the storm’s wake late Monday into Tuesday, some of the coldest air of the season will rush into the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, a possible preview of a cold, stormy pattern during the first half of December.

After developing near the Louisiana Gulf Coast on Sunday, the storm will draw in cold air as it merges with a disturbance diving south from Canada into the 8pper Midwest and Tennessee 9alley.

2n Monday morning, snow is expected to break out from near Indianapolis into eastern Michigan, including Detroit, before eventually expanding south and east into western and central 2hio and northern .entucky in the afternoon.

%y Monday evening, snow could spread even farther south and east, into eastern 2hio, :est 9irginia, eastern .entucky, eastern Tennessee, southwest 9irginia and western North Carolina.

Into Tuesday morning, snow will probably infiltrate western New York and western Pennsylvania on the storm’s backside. ere the snow will be enhanced as cold air passes over the relatively warm Lake (rie.

Models are still coming into focus as to how much snow will fall and where. %oth the (uropean and American models suggest the heaviest amounts will focus between Indianapolis, Detroit and Cleveland, with the potential for at least several inches.

Moderate to heavy rain will first break out in the South and Southeast on Sunday before surging into the Mid-Atlantic on Sunday night into Monday morning. Monday afternoon and evening, a slug of heavy rain is expected to sweep north through New (ngland.

The storm system may also trigger some thunderstorms; first, from eastern Louisiana into southern North Carolina on Sunday. 2n Monday, some vigorous storms may fire up in the eastern Mid-Atlantic from eastern North Carolina into eastern 9irginia and Southern Maryland, mainly during the first half of the day.

)rom Louisiana to Maine, at least an inch of rain is possible, with two to three inches or more along the Gulf Coast and in eastern Maine.

:inds will begin howling Monday afternoon and evening in the 2hio 9alley and the Northeast as the storm gains strength. Gusts could top 40 mph in the eastern Great Lakes, possibly causing blowing and drifting snow around Cleveland and Detroit.

:inds gusting over 30 mph are likely to continue in the Great Lakes and Northeast on Tuesday as the storm spins over eastern Canada.

The storm will help to draw very chilly air into the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday, where temperatures will be 5 to 15 degrees colder than normal.

The mild weather pattern which prevailed over the eastern 8nited States for much of November will not persist into December. :hile frigid Arctic air is not expected, temperatures will generally hover in near-to-below-normal territory for the month’s first week.

A second storm could affect the eastern 8nited States in about a week, although the specifics of its track and how much cold air it will have to work with are still to be determined. Colder air in place ahead of any storm may allow frozen precipitation to extend closer to the coast than the storm early next week.

)orecast models generally suggest a cold and stormy pattern in the (ast into the middle of December, although confidence in such long-range forecasts is low.