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Next main winter storm within the US set to blast hundreds of thousands with flooding rain, snow

POLITICS

A storm moving across the U.S. is forecast to impact millions of Americans, bringing the potential for dangerous travel conditions, significant snow and strong winds.

The system, which is heading eastward after providing wildfire-ravaged Southern California with some much-needed precipitation, is bringing winter weather and rain across the Southwest on Tuesday. It will continue to move east hitting nearly every region and bringing weather changes to more than 300 million.

“We aren’t done with isolated rainfall activity just yet as chances for precipitation will persist into Wednesday,” forecasters in Arizona’s capital city of Phoenix wrote.

Snow covers a mountain range in a view from Mt. Wilson after a series of storms in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles on Monday. More snow is forecast in the Southwest this week as the storm system shifts eastward (AP)

Showers had impacted the Phoenix metro area on Monday.

Spotty rain and snow are forecast to spread through the region and the Intermountain West, with wintry travel expected along interstates in Arizona and Utah, according to forecasting company AccuWeather.

As many as six inches of snow could fall from Tuesday night through Thursday in New Mexico and in Colorado’s higher elevations.

At least a few inches of snow is projected over the Rockies, and a wintry mix could last into the end of the week and over parts of the High Plains.

Snow squalls, brief periods of heavy snowfall with low visibility and reduced winds, from another system are possible through Wednesday for the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, New England and Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.

A worker clears snow at the Big Bear Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California, on Monday. The system, which is heading eastward after providing wildfire-ravaged Southern California with some much-needed precipitation, is bringing winter weather and rain across the Southwest on Tuesday (AP)

To the south and east of the storm’s track, rain is projected, resulting in potential flooding. Some areas from Texas to Kentucky could see as many as 7 inches of downpours.

“Rain will fall in an area of the South Central states that has experienced well-below-historical-average precipitation this month,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Courtney Travis said in a statement. “San Antonio and Austin are both in an extreme drought. The area could use the rain, but too much rain too quickly could lead to flooding concerns.”

There’s also a risk of severe thunderstorms, including hail and power winds in Texas on Thursday.

To the north, snow and ice are possible in the Midwest and Northeast by the end of the week.

“Depending on its track, the storm on Friday may bring snow or a wintry mix as far north as Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland in the Midwest,” Travis said.

Source: independent.co.uk

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