A deep trough has flooded the southeastern U.S. with incredibly abnormal cold for the past few days.
Cold air sagging south out of Canada will bring a sustained and widespread cold snap to the U.S., which could reach Florida with temperatures near the freezing mark by the middle of this week.
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Friday, Jan. 9 temperature pattern in the U.S.
The freezing temperatures have reached the Gulf of Mexico, which is still relatively warm. The result is an incredible temperature gradient that is just waiting to fuel a storm.
A trough dipping over the Rockies into New Mexico will spark a Texas low-pressure system. The low will track directly toward the Gulf shore and track east to the Florida Panhandle.
Freezing rain accumulations in the U.S. through Saturday
The downside of this storm track is it will leave many cities on the wintry side of the storm, bringing freezing rain and snow to Dallas, Texas, Little Rock, Ark., Jackson, Mo., Nashville, Tenn., Montgomery, Ala., Atlanta, Ga., and Raleigh, N.C.
The power grid will be challenged by high demand across the Gulf states, as well as from the ice accretion expected across central Texas through northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, stretching into the Carolinas through this weekend.
Heavy snow will shut down highways and towns from Oklahoma to Tennessee as travel will be rather treacherous from the road conditions.
U.S. snowfall totals through Saturday
The upside of the storm track will be the cold front drooping from the bottom of the low, which will remain over the Gulf of Mexico, nearly completely eliminating the severe storm threat.
With files from Dennis Mersereau, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.
Thumbnail contains a Dallas, Texas, image from 2021. It is courtesy of Gabriel Cano/Getty Images/1303330095-170667a.