Weather Outside Your Window: Snow squalls to threaten 'dangerous whiteouts' in Great Lakes, Northeast

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Published Feb. 18, 2022 10:46 AM EST | Updated Feb. 18, 2022 9:16 PM EST

A fast-moving storm will trigger locally heavy snow squalls and gusty winds as it races across the Northeast on Saturday following its rampage through the Upper Midwest on Friday. The two conditions will combine forces to create sudden hazards for those traveling during the first part of the Presidents Day weekend, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

The storm is an Alberta clipper, named after the western Canadian province it originated from, and it will not have a chance to grab moisture from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. But, even without that boost, heavy snow showers called snow squalls can hit hard and fast — much like how thunderstorms erupt in the summertime.

Even though snow accumulations in most areas in the path of clipper storm are likely to be less than an inch, “the snow squalls can be intense and can produce brief and dangerous whiteout conditions,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said.

AccuWeather forecasters warn that motorists should be alert for weather conditions that can change at a moment’s notice. The sudden and intense nature of the snow squalls can bring a rapid drop in visibility and a quick coating to half an inch of snow. Essentially, the weather can be just fine on the highway with dry roads in one minute, and the next, the visibility can drop to near-zero with roads rapidly transitioning from wet to slushy to snow-covered.

Conditions such as this in the past have contributed to massive and deadly multiple-vehicle pile-ups on the highways.

Friday night, snow squall warnings were in effect for several portions of interstates in southeastern Wisconsin, including I-43, I-94, US-145 and US-18 near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and US-41 and US-45 near West Bend, Wisconsin. Strong winds and heavy snow began impacting the I-94 corridor between Madison and Milwaukee, as well as the I-39/90 corridor between Madison and Janesville, Wisconsin, Friday night.

In the Northeast, stretches of interstates 79, 80, 81, 86, 87, 89 and 91 will be the most likely to experience snow squalls on Saturday. However, there is the potential for squalls to reach the I-95 corridor in New England toward the end of the day, and sudden showers of rain and wet snow to occur in the New York City area and New Jersey during Saturday afternoon.

"Roads are not likely to become snow-covered in the zone from Philadelphia to New York City, due to temperatures within a few degrees of 40 at the time of the squalls," AccuWeather Senior Storm Warning Meteorologist Brian Wimer said, adding the quick-hitting showers can still be an inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians.

Since the air will be slightly colder in eastern New England, compared to the coastal mid-Atlantic, there is a better chance of a ground-covering snow squall to hit in Boston, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine, than in New York City.

Where the snow showers occur at the end of the day in parts of eastern New England, there is a better chance of a quick freeze-up before gusty winds promote drying.

Patches of snow were already covering the landscape Friday morning from parts of the Dakotas to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A band of snow squalls advanced from parts of eastern Minnesota to northwestern Wisconsin at daybreak.

Early Friday evening, a brief snow squall dipped southward toward Milwaukee and Chicago. By nightfall, the snow squalls will pivot across southern Michigan, including the Detroit area. Late Friday night to Saturday morning, the flurries and heavier snow squalls will reach the zone from Cleveland to Buffalo, and can dip as far south as Pittsburgh.

Strong winds will accompany this clipper storm as well.

Frequent gusts from 40-50 mph will occur from eastern North Dakota to Delaware, New Jersey, southeastern New York and southern New England. Higher gusts ranging from 50-60 mph are most likely to blow along the southern and eastern shorelines of the Great Lakes and the high ground in West Virginia, western Maryland, western Pennsylvania and western New York, forecasters say. Within this zone, AccuWeather Local StormMax™ gusts near 70 mph are possible.

Winds will not be as strong as those produced by an intense storm that plowed through the coastal mid-Atlantic and southern New England on Friday morning. But, for areas farther west across the Great Lakes and in the central Appalachians, the winds could be locally stronger than when the same storm rolled through on Thursday and Thursday night. The gusty winds can cause the snow to blow around and can be powerful enough to cause sporadic power outages and break large tree limbs.

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A brief shot of cold air will follow the clipper storm in the Midwest on Saturday and the Northeast during Saturday night, but temperatures are expected to recover to mild levels by early next week in advance of a storm emerging from the West. That new storm that will arrive Tuesday into Wednesday is likely to bring rain to many places from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic and southeastern New England. A second and colder storm that will follow on Thursday and Friday has the potential to bring ice and snow to areas that received mostly rain from the late-week storm.