By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
The same storm set that brought feet of snow to Arizona will swing onto the Plains and evolve into a blizzard over part of the north-central United States this weekend.
The weekend storm, like the one at midweek, will track toward the Great Lakes. However, the storm this weekend will be significantly stronger.
As a result, the new storm will create heavier precipitation, including snow, and generate high winds.
"Areas from west-central Kansas to southeastern Nebraska, west-central Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and northern Michigan can expect a general 6-12 inches of snow with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 20 inches," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.
"The weekend storm is likely to produce blizzard conditions within and surrounding the heavy snow swath," according to AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Richard Schraeger.
Blizzard conditions may occur, even though precipitation in some parts of the southern Plains may start as rain or ice.
Cities at risk for blizzard conditions include Goodland, Kansas; Grand Island, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Minneapolis and Rochester, Minnesota; Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Ironwood, Michigan.
The storm is likely to bring all or mostly rain to Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.
Where there is a significant amount of snow on the ground from prior storms and rain falls with this storm, the risk of urban flooding will be significant.
As colder air rotates around the storm and pushes farther east, a bit of snow may spread from northeastern Kansas Saturday night to northern Illinois on Sunday.
Lake-effect snow is likely farther to the east on Sunday in southern Michigan, northern Indiana and northern Ohio.
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High winds to be problematic with storm
The winds from this storm may become strong enough to knock over trees and cause regional to perhaps widespread power outages over the Plains and Midwest.
Even outside of the heavy snow area, strong winds will be a problem over the southern Plains during Saturday and Saturday night. High winds will then shift toward the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region by Sunday.
The winds will contribute to low-level turbulence for airline passengers and may lead to delays at the major airport hubs even where there is no fresh snowfall.
Snow continues to pile up over part of north central US
The storm from this past Wednesday has pushed Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport over the top for the snowiest February on record. The prior February snowfall record for Minneapolis was in 1962, when 26.5 inches of snow fell. As of Friday, Feb. 22, the airport has officially recorded 31.7 inches of snow this month. More snow will fall on the Twin Cities this weekend.
Des Moines, Iowa, has received 22.5 inches of snow so far this month. Already, the city has received 44 inches of snow since early November. The average annual snowfall is 35 inches. Snow is forecast with the weekend storm in Des Moines.
Snowfall is also well above average for Omaha, Nebraska, this season. The average annual snowfall is 26.5 inches of snow, compared to about 41 inches already as of Wednesday morning. Omaha is likely to get a combination of rain, ice and snow from the storm this weekend. Blizzard conditions may develop on the tail end of the storm.
This system will be strong enough to create conditions conducive to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in its warm sector from the lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley, along with flooding rainfall.
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