The Abiter bomb cyclone from the Arctic is set to hit from Dallas to Minneapolis later this week, potentially causing widespread disruption and threats to the eastern United States.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said on its website that arctic air mass is currently over Central America and it will expand eastward into the Midwest and Deep South on Saturday before moving to the east coast on Saturday.
The NWS said that through the northeast from the eastern Great Lakes, heavy snow is expected as a cold front has engulfed the region.
Hurricanes that can cause destructive wind, isolated hail and some tornadoes can occur in parts of the Southeast through the mid-Atlantic Friday night through Saturday.
The NWS said swats of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys would be affected by "a significant winter storm" that occurred late Friday and lasted through Saturday.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic over the weekend.
Light snow is likely to fall over the southern plains to Wisconsin before Arctic airmass moves over the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley late Friday night, leading to sub-zero temperatures.
"Snow speeds in excess of an inch per hour will produce drifting and drifting snow accompanied by strong winds. This will severely reduce visibility and make dangerous driving conditions difficult," the NWS said on its website.
It said parts of the northeast would see the heaviest snowfall, with more than 12 inches of accumulation likely. The NWS has warned that heavy snowfall could result in power outages.
The cold front will extend into the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic from Saturday night through Sunday. Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing over the Gulf Coast and northern Florida on Sunday morning.
"Currently, cold air affecting the Southeast states is diving south into the Canadian Plains and the American Plains. Part of this cold air is helping to fuel the ice that we need to drive through the Great Lakes." from Colorado and New Mexico. Currently," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Rob Miller said on the organization's website.
AccuWeather forecasts that record low temperatures are set to reach the Southeast as a result of the cold front. The website said temperatures in Minneapolis will remain 25F below normal levels on Friday, as a mass of Arctic cold air travels over the northern plains.
Earlier this week, cold air was blowing through the West Coast of the United States, breaking record lows in the states of Washington and Oklahoma.
Iowa saw a tornado on March 5, which wreaked havoc and halted air traffic in the region.