A major winter storm is set to unleash up to a foot of snow when it barrels over 27 states, creating treacherous driving conditions and power outages.
The storm will get underway Friday, spreading snow across the Northern Plains during the day into the upper Midwest at night and reach the East Coast Saturday.
States that should brace for impact include North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are also set to be battered by heavy snowfall.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has already put 30 million people living from the eastern Rockies and Dakotas to New York City and Boston under weather alerts, with warnings of mixed precipitation and ice accumulations.
The NWS urged Americans in those regions not travel, but if necessary, drivers should consider taking a winter storm kit with a shovel, flashlight, blankets, and extra clothing.
‘Also take water, a first aid kit, and anything else that would help you survive in case you become stranded,’ the alert reads.
Snow and high winds will persist in New England through Sunday morning before Garnett moves offshore.
The Midwest and Northeast are still reeling from Winter Storm Freya, which brought significant snow and ice earlier this week. Now, the same regions are bracing for Winter Storm Garnett, which could bring even higher snow totals. New Hampshire: February 6, 2025
Winter storm Garnett is barreling east across the US, with 27 states in its path
AccuWeather meteorologists said Friday that the storm, named Garnett, ‘might be the biggest storm of the winter season’ for portions of the Northeast.
A large swath of the US is still reeling from Winter Storm Freya that hit Wednesday into Thursday, and Garnett is set to hit these areas with even higher snow totals.
AccuWeather meteorologists have forecasted six to 12 inches of accumulation for areas within a narrow band that stretches from the eastern border of the Dakotas to Boston, Massachusetts, including the cities of Minneapolis and Green Bay.
But locally higher amounts up to 18 inches could fall in some places.
A wider area around this central band of snowfall can expect three to six inches, including Buffalo, New York and Burlington, Vermont.
And one to three inches should pile up in cities such as Bismark and Fargo, North Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Detroit, Michigan.
‘Road crews cleaning up the initial round of snow and treating pavement for ice could become strained, especially due to the timing of the second storm, prompting them to work through the weekend,’ AccuWeather meteorologists said.
A band of sleet and freezing rain is also expected to develop from Iowa to the New England coast through Saturday, potentially bringing significant ice accumulation to a more widespread area than the previous storm.
Up to a foot of snow is expected in some areas within the storm’s path, including the cities of Minneapolis and Green Bay
Significant ice is expected to accumulate across a widespread area, with power outages likely where icing is most severe
More than a quarter inch of ice could build up on tree limbs, power lines, roadways and sidewalks, and this could be ‘detrimental, especially if resources necessary to pretreat roads become limited from use earlier in the week,’ said meteorologists.
In areas where ice accumulations are significant, power outages are likely.
That risk stretches from the upper Ohio Valley through parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.
Cities within this risk zone include Des Moines, Iowa, Peoria and Chicago, Illinois, Toledo, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Lancaster and Scranton in Pennsylvania.
Travel conditions could remain treacherous as Winter Storm Garnett hits this weekend. On Wednesday, weather-related crashes were reported in Allen County, Indiana as a result of a storm on Thursday
Other northeastern states saw significant snow totals this week and Garnett’s impact will bring more snow on top of what has already accumulated. New Hampshire: February 6, 2025
While Winter Storm Garnett should move offshore by the end of the weekend, more severe winter weather will be following close behind.
This ‘parade of storms’ will continue battering the eastern half of the US into at least mid-February.
‘The storm this weekend is just the next in a series of storms that is part of the pattern change that began late last week,’ AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg said.
From Monday through Wednesday next week, a storm originating in Texas will move toward the mid-Atlantic coast, once again bringing a large swath of snow and ice north of its path, he added.
Heavy rain and severe weather could stretch across the South into the Southeast as well, Lundberg warned.
