Weather

Arctic air will extend its reach from the Plains to the Midwest and interior Northeast on Saturday. Temperatures will be as much as 30 degrees below average and may challenge record lows Saturday night over the Central states. This cold air is also dry and will affect the storm pushing across the Eastern states. The dry air is likely to keep accumulating snow south of much of Ohio, Pennsylvania, upstate New York and interior New England. The dry air may keep wet snow light enough to limit the accumulation across West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast farther south to the Gulf Coast. Some storms may briefly become severe along the southern Atlantic coast. The storm may pull snow farther to the west across northern New Jersey, southeastern New York state and part of New England.

In the West, warm conditions are in store for many areas, especially where the sun is out over the Four Corners region, southern Nevada and part of Southern California. As a storm moves onshore in the Northwest, rain moves from Washington to Oregon and Northern and Central California, as well as northern Nevada, northern Utah and much of Idaho. Less snow is expected over the high country of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada.

FOCUS: Gusty Thunderstorms on Saturday

Cooler air is expected to trigger heavy thunderstorms from eastern South Carolina to the Florida Panhandle on Saturday. The strongest storms may produce localized wind gusts in excess of 50 mph and torrential downpours.