Huge Rain Storm Friday; Blizzard For The Midwest

Happy Holidays, faithful Flake Followers!

With only two more wake-ups until a glorious week of vacation, the weather gods are conspiring against us New Englanders. We will be on the wrong side--the warmer east side--of a monstrous storm that is going to really foul up people's travel plans on Friday.

An enormous bulge of cold air has already started to push its way into central US states. A snow storm will break out on the east edge of the bulge. Unfortunately, the cold air will not make to our area until the storm lifts past us to the northeast. While the upper Midwest will see snow and wind, we will only see rain and wind.

Check out those temps in Louisiana! This map is for midday on Friday.

Meteorologists are forecasting A LOT of rain for our area starting on Thursday and carrying into Friday. In some ways, the duration of this end-of-week storm will be similar to last week's storm. Precipitation could linger into Saturday.

There is a chance the initial burst of precipitation will fall as snow, but the snow will change to heavy rain shortly thereafter. Still, there are two big concerns: 1) the wind; 2) flash freezing on Friday afternoon.

Winds Friday morning could hit 60 mph. Power outages are not only possible but likely. And then Friday afternoon and night we will see a 30-degree drop in temperatures. We will go from the 40s in the day on Friday to low teens by early Saturday morning. With over 2" of rain expected Thursday night and Friday, that could create treacherous driving conditions Friday night if roads are not treated.

Even though it's not a snowmaker, this storm could very well impact your plans given the size and duration of the event. Indoor activities are greatly encouraged for Friday, and you'll need to bundle up if you head out on Saturday as temps will not break 20 that day. Christmas Day is looking dry but still cold, with temps eventually getting into the low 20s after a very cold start--single digits for most.

We're definitely keeping an eye on this very volatile storm. We should be able to get one more report out on Thursday before we take the weekend off for the holiday.