Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
337 FXUS01 KWBC 281814 PMDSPD Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 110 PM EST Fri Nov 28 2025 Valid 00Z Sat Nov 29 2025 - 00Z Mon Dec 01 2025 ...Heavy lake-effect snow will continue across the Great Lakes region into early Saturday morning... ...Developing major winter storm over the northern Plains will impact the Midwest and Great Lakes region this weekend with widespread heavy snowfall and hazardous travel conditions... ...A wintry pattern will bring well below average, chilly temperatures to much of the eastern and central U.S. heading into the weekend... Locally heavy lake-effect snow is expected to continue tonight through early Saturday morning across the Great Lakes region in the wake of a slowly departing winter storm lifting through southeast Canada. The heaviest additional accumulations should be downwind of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, with portions of western New York in particular seeing an additional 6 to 12 inches of snow. Locally gusty winds and poor visibility will continue to make for difficult travel conditions, but the lake-effect snow should gradually taper down by early Saturday as cold high pressure moves overhead. Meanwhile, a new major winter storm is already organizing across the northern Plains as energy ejecting out of the northern Rockies focuses cyclogenesis in the lee of the Rockies. This low center will gradually strengthen tonight across the central Plains and then advance into the middle Mississippi Valley by late Saturday. From there, this storm system is expected to deepen further and track up across the Lower Great Lakes region through Sunday. The result is expected to be an expansive swath of heavy snow which will initially track across Montana and the Dakotas through this evening, but then become more focused across the Midwest tonight and Saturday. A rather widespread axis of 6 to 12 inches of snowfall can be expected for the Midwest, with the heaviest amounts generally over portions of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin where as much as 12 to 15+ inches of snow can be expected. These snowfall totals may locally approach a record-setting snowfall event for the month of November for multiple major metropolitan areas. Heavy snow will overspread much of Lower Michigan and adjacent areas of the Lower Great Lakes region by Saturday night and continue into early Sunday, with snow accumulations here of locally 6 to 12+ inches. As the low center arrives and approaches the Northeast, some wintry precipitation will also advance into some interior areas of New England as well and there may be at least a few inches of snow accumulation here where sufficient cold air will be in place. The end result of this multi-day post-Thanksgiving major winter storm will be significant impacts to travel both on the ground and through the air given expectations of heavy snowfall rates, gusty winds and poor visibility. Farther to the south on the warm side of this next storm system, moist return flow from the Gulf of America will facilitate rounds of showers and thunderstorms across portions of the southern Plains eastward into the northwest Gulf Coast region and areas of the Mid-South. Locally heavy rainfall is expected across portions of eastern Texas and western Louisiana where areas of stronger thunderstorm activity are expected. A few isolated instances of flash flooding and severe weather will be possible across these areas. Generally, a very wintry pattern has grip on the country, and therefore many areas of the central and eastern U.S. this weekend will see temperatures well below normal. Multiple surges of very cold air dropping south from Canada will be reinforcing this, and especially in the wake of this next winter storm that traverses the Midwest and Great Lakes. Much of the mild weather will be confined to the Southwest U.S. where it will be dry, although it will warm up across portions of the Southeast and especially Florida by late in the weekend as warm southerly flow arrives ahead of an approaching cold front associated with the Midwest and Great Lakes winter storm low track. Orrison Graphics available at https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php $$