New series of winter storms lining up to bring more snow and ice to the nation’s midsection

By Artemis Moshtaghian, Gene Norman, Lauren Mascarenhas and Robert Shackelford, CNN

(CNN) — As the Midwest and Northeast dig out from back-to-back winter storms, new systems are building and are expected to dump more snow from the middle of the country to the East Coast this week.

Plenty of cold air remains in place to the north, helping to set the stage for a wide band of wintry mix and snow, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

The first storm will form in the Central US Monday night and ramp up as it heads east, bringing snow and freezing rain to parts of the Appalachian Mountains, mid-Atlantic and southern portions of the Northeast Tuesday through Wednesday.

The worst conditions are expected across the Appalachian Mountains from Northwestern North Carolina into Southwestern Virginia, with ice over 0.25 inches expected, which could cause downed tree limbs, power outages and travel headaches.

Snow is more likely through the I-95 corridor from Richmond to Philadelphia, including Washington, DC, which is already under a winter storm watch Tuesday into Wednesday and could see 4-6 inches.

The district has already seen more snowfall this year than the last two years combined, with more on the way.

Then, on the heels of the first storm of the week, another will move in quickly behind it.

The storm will start in the Central Plains Tuesday evening through Wednesday, where heavy snow is possible for cities like Kansas City, while Oklahoma City and Springfield, Missouri, could see freezing rain.

A winter storm watch for Wednesday and Thursday has already been posted across much of northern Kansas and Missouri. Snowfall across the I-70 corridor could exceed 5 inches, and Kansas City could potentially see 4-8 inches of snowfall.

This storm’s effects will spread to the Great Lakes for Wednesday and could bring snowfall to cities like Chicago and St. Louis. The current forecast for the second storm calls for rainfall to be the most likely form of precipitation for the major metropolitan cities across the Northeast.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued a verbal state of disaster emergency proclamation on Sunday due to incoming winter weather expected to hit the state as early as Monday evening.

“As I did during past storms, I urge all Kansans to take measures to make sure their families are ready by making a home emergency kit and emergency plan,” Kelly said.

Major cities expecting more storms

Below-normal temperatures are likely to be recorded across much of the continental US over the next few weeks, the weather service said. This combination of active weather and prolonged cold may cause a continued stretch of winter disruption for many Americans.

Here are the projected weather impacts for major cities as the storms move across the country. The first storm will affect the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast while the second will affect the Central US:

• Oklahoma City: The forecast calls for up to .25 inches of ice Tuesday night through Wednesday late morning. Peak icing is expected between midnight and 6 a.m.
• Kansas City: A Winter Storm Watch will be in effect from 9 p.m. CT Tuesday to 6 p.m. CT Wednesday. Snowfall of 4-8 inches is possible. Peak snowfall will be Wednesday from midnight to 5 p.m.
• St Louis: The forecast calls for snowfall of 1-3 inches Wednesday, with peak snowfall expected between noon and 6 p.m.
• Chicago: The forecast calls for snowfall of at least an inch beginning Wednesday afternoon and lasting into Thursday.
• Washington, DC: A Winter Storm Watch will be in effect from 1 p.m. Tuesday until 7 a.m. Wednesday. Snowfall of 4-6 inches is possible. Peak snowfall will be from 2 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday.
• Philadelphia: The forecast calls for 2-4 inches of snow Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday night, so alerts could be posted soon.
• New York City: The forecast calls for 1-2 inches of snow Tuesday night.

A third storm is set to hit the West Coast late Wednesday, bringing a threat of heavy rain to Southern California on Thursday. In Ventura Country, the rain could trigger life-threatening debris flows in burn scar areas from January’s wildfire.

The Weather Prediction Center has issued a level 2 out of 4 risk for excessive rainfall, threatening more than 34 million people across Central and Southern California Thursday, including Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

By the weekend, the storm is expected to move east, bringing additional weather risks to the Central and Eastern US.

Earlier double-barreled storm brought heavy snow

Parts of the Northeast woke up to more than a foot of snow Sunday morning, as a fast-moving winter storm, packing snow, sleet and ice, sped across the Midwest into the Northeast over the weekend.

More than 15 million people from the Midwest to the Northeast were under winter alerts while the storm moved through. Those warnings have now expired. While the snow has mostly come to an end, travelers are experiencing delays due to the weather, and officials are warning people to watch out for snow-covered, slippery roads.

As fans made their way into New Orleans for Super Bowl Sunday, dense fog in the area caused reduced visibility in several locations, the National Weather Service warned, urging drivers to exercise extreme caution on roadways.

More than 400 flights into or out of the US were canceled Sunday, with another 3,800 flights delayed, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Parts of New York state, Wisconsin and Vermont received more than a foot of snow since it began falling Saturday, while states from Minnesota to Maine saw between 2.5 to 11 inches.

Snow-covered and slippery roads could cause dangerous travel conditions, and areas with heavy ice could experience power outages and minor tree damage, the weather service said.

In New York and Boston, crews worked Sunday to clear snow and ice from the roads. Boston had 41,000 tons of salt are on hand to treat streets blanketed by heavy snow, the city previously announced.

The storm system moved in two rounds: The first brought heavy snow to the Midwest on Saturday afternoon, followed by significant snowfall in parts of the Northeast, coupled with icy conditions in the Appalachians.

Along with the snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast, the storm brought icy conditions to the Appalachians.

Colder temperatures are coming

Three more systems are on the horizon through this weekend, with another Arctic blast expected to push temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below seasonal norms across the Northeast. Meteorologists attribute this active pattern to the positioning of the jet stream, which is funneling storms across the northern US.

The jet stream, essentially a river of air in the atmosphere that storms flow through, is locked in an almost perfect line from west to east and will continue to funnel fast-moving storms across the northern tier of the Lower 48.

This pattern has been responsible for maintaining lower-than-average temperatures across much of the country this winter. New storms are expected to arrive every few days until the jet stream shifts – something that might not happen until the second half of February.

This weekend’s storms are just part of what forecasters expect will be an active February for winter weather.

CNN Meteorologist Mary Gilbert, Dalia Faheid, Karina Tsui and Hanna Park contributed to this report.

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