Coast-To-Coast Winter Storm Sets Crosshairs On Northeast

A destructive storm traversing the US unleashed blizzard conditions across parts of the Great Plains, spawned deadly tornadoes in the South, and has the Northeast in its crosshairs later this week.

Eastern Wyoming, western South Dakota, western Nebraska, and southeastern Montana have blizzard warnings for the second day Wednesday. 

To the south, the huge storm unleashed tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible across Louisiana to the Florida panhandle this afternoon.  Much of the severe weather watch with moderate to high threat of tornadoes risk is from New Orleans to Gulfport to Mobile. 

NEW: Today’s tornado threat in the South has grown and we now have a TOR:CON of 7 for some areas.

We’re LIVE with the latest. pic.twitter.com/myLfSXgntf

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) December 14, 2022

As for the final stop on its cross-country tour, which first began dumping heavy snow in the Sierra Nevadas last weekend, the storm will bring a mix of wintery weather from the central Appalachians up along the interior Northeast on Thursday into the weekend. 

Winter weather advisories cover a large swath of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Major metro areas, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia, have winter weather alerts posted for the next few days. 

Much of the snowfall is expected west of the I-95 corridor and across central and northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York on Thursday, then Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts by evening and late night. 

Meanwhile, average temperatures across the Lower 48 are expected to dive well below average through Christmas. 

This will boost heating demand and keep a bid under energy prices. 

US natural gas storage flipped from injections to draws in Mid-Novemeber. Supplies will continue to dwindle on increasing heating demand and the Freeport LNG export terminal reopening. 

US NatGas prices have been range bound between $5 and $7 since mid-Otcotber. 

A couple more cold snaps could propel US NatGas prices over the $7 mark.