Meteorologist Henry Margusity delivers a stark update, confirming that winter has returned with a vengeance after a major storm system brought widespread snow and ice to nearly half of the country. The immediate forecast highlights a departing system still dropping snow in the Northeast, followed by lingering cold air and a series of clipper systems bringing light snow to the Great Lakes and Midwest throughout the week. A potentially significant coastal storm is also being monitored for the upcoming weekend, which could impact the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, though forecast models currently disagree on its precise track.
Looking further ahead, Margusity warns of a severe, prolonged winter pattern driven by a massive arctic high pressure system descending from the north. This setup is expected to fuel a dangerous ice storm for the Southern Plains—impacting cities like Atlanta, Shreveport, and Houston with heavy ice accumulation and power outages—before spreading heavy snow northward into the Mid-Atlantic. With cold air locking in place, this active and snowy pattern is predicted to persist for another four to eight weeks, potentially lasting well into March.