As the calendar sinks deeper into April and the spring season, Old Man Winter is putting up a fight to not leave. Another winter storm will impact the Midwest and Northeast, today through early Friday. Another round of heavy snow is also expected in a place you usually don’t associate with snow: Hawaii. The National Weather Service has posted Winter Storm Watches for portions of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin today with heavy snow expected there. The National Weather Service office in Honolulu, Hawaii has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Thursday morning through Friday evening for heavy snow on the Big Island of Hawaii. Additional winter weather related advisories are expected to be issued for portions of Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine as the Midwest system moves to New England on Thursday and Friday.
A late season snowfall event is currently underway across the northern and central Plains. This area of snow and thunderstorms will continue moving eastward into the Upper Midwest and middle Mississippi Valley this morning and lasting through the afternoon. A band of heavy snow is expected in Iowa and will mostly occur late morning into early afternoon. By this evening, the snow will push across the southern portions of the Upper Great Lakes, with rain falling on the southern side of this weather system pushing in from the mid Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley. The associated surface low will slide into the Northeast by late tonight into early Thursday morning, with rain spreading across the Northeast southward into the central Appalachians. Most of the snow will be confined closer to the lower Great Lakes and the interior of New England. However, snow lakes may fly as far south as southern upstate New York, northern Connecticut, and western Massachusetts. As the surface low moves into the Canadian Maritimes Friday morning, light rain and show showers will linger over northern New England before clearing out completely for the weekend.
While that system moves through the northeast, another system will move through storm-ravaged Hawaii. High pressure far north of Hawaii will maintain trade winds over the islands through at least the beginning of next week. These trades will push a band of showers over the islands through Friday. A trough aloft moving over the area will bring the threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms tonight through Friday. The threat of heavy rain will subside over the weekend but breezy trade winds will maintain showery weather over windward areas. Unfortunately, more heavy rain is expected in areas that don’t need it. The northern half of Kauai is still dealing with the weather catastrophe that struck on Sunday; more than 2 feet of rain fell in short period of time, washing homes, cars, and animals out to sea. Flooding was bad on Oahu too, where heavy rain swamped parking garages in deep water and mud. On Hawaii’s Big Island, heavy rain created landslides, forcing some roads to close. With a fresh round of heavy precipitation due to arrive in Hawaii, the National Weather Service has issued Flash Flood Watches state-wide. Where air is at or below freezing at the higher elevations of the Big Island, heavy snow instead of rain will fall. The National Weather Service has Winter Storm Watches there for summits above 12,000 feet from 6am Thursday through 6pm Friday. 6-12″ of snow is expected there. Roads to the summits may rapidly become snow-covered and slippery, resulting in difficult travel conditions. Significant reductions in visibility are also possible. The National Weather Service cautions, “Anyone planning to travel to the summits, including hikers and campers, should monitor the latest forecasts and consider postponing their trip until improved weather returns.”
