At a Glance
- Winter Storm Landon will impact a large part of the U.S. through Friday.
- Snow, sleet and freezing rain will spread from the Southern Plains to the Midwest and Northeast.
- Travel should be avoided in these areas.
- Icing could be heavy enough to knock out power and cause tree damage in some areas.
Winter Storm Landon will continue to deliver a widespread mess of snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Southern Plains to the Midwest and parts of the Northeast through Friday. The storm is already creating major travel headaches and its ice accumulations have been heavy enough to knock out power and cause tree damage in some areas.
Landon is producing freezing rain, sleet and some snow as far south as central portions of Texas right now, where icy roads have been reported.
From there, a broad area of snow, sleet and freezing rain extends for hundreds of miles northeastward across portions of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys into the interior Northeast.
(MORE: Latest Updates on Landon's Impacts)
Current Alerts
Winter storm warnings, ice storm warnings and winter weather advisories have been issued by the National Weather Service for an area that stretches from Texas to Maine. That's a distance of over 2,000 miles as the crow flies.
Travel will be hazardous because of snow, sleet and/or freezing rain in these areas through the end of the week. Areas that see significant icing will suffer power outages and tree damage, especially from parts of central Texas and southeastern Oklahoma into Arkansas and portions of the lower and mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.
To compound all this, the fresh cold air sweeping in during and behind the storm could leave roads treacherous after the storm is over in the Plains, Midwest and Northeast.
(MORE: What the Cold Plunge Means For Texas, Oklahoma)
If you have travel plans in these areas, be prepared to postpone or cancel them.
Here is our latest forecast timing followed by the expected snow and ice accumulations for this storm. Check back to weather.com and The Weather Channel app for important forecast updates.
Forecast Timing
The final stage of this storm will unfold in the Northeast on Friday.
As the cold front finally sweeps through, rainfall in parts of the Northeast rain will change to a round of freezing rain, sleet and snow as far east as southern New England and parts of the New York tri-state area. This could create hazardous travel, especially in southern New England, where a flash freeze is expected since temperatures will plummet during the day.
Elsewhere, snow will extend from Maine southwestward into upstate New York, northern and western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley.
Much of the precipitation from the storm should be winding down on Friday night.
Snow, Ice Forecast
Snow
Since Tuesday night and Wednesday, Landon has produced widespread accumulating snow from Colorado and New Mexico into Kansas, northern and central Missouri, northern and central Illinois, northern Indiana and lower Michigan. Parts of the Denver, Chicago, and Detroit metro areas picked up 6 inches or more of snowfall.
Additional snow totals of 5 inches or more are possible from the Ozarks into parts of the Ohio Valley and interior Northeast. Up to a foot (locally more) of snow is anticipated in parts of the interior Northeast.
Ice
Freezing rain will accumulate on roads, tree branches, power lines and other surfaces from portions of central and eastern Texas to the Ohio Valley and Northeast.
In some areas, there will be enough ice and stronger wind gusts to break tree branches and knock out power. Right now, that potential is highest in the locations shaded darker purple in the map below, especially where ice storm warnings are in effect within this zone, including Memphis, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, and Louisville, Kentucky.
(MORE: What To Do If Your Power and Heat Go Out in the Winter)
All other locations could see at least enough of an ice coating to pose a threat of hazardous travel. However, some power outages and broken tree limbs cannot be ruled out in these areas too, including as far south as central Texas and into the interior Northeast, from Pennsylvania to parts of the Hudson Valley to New England.
Landon's Recap So Far
Landon began on Tuesday night and Wednesday in the Rockies and Midwest.
Parts of the Denver metro area picked up 6 to 11 inches of snow. Up to 22 inches was reported in the higher elevations of Colorado and up to 21 inches piled up in the high country of northern New Mexico.
A half-foot or more of snowfall fell from central Missouri into central and northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southern Lower Michigan. The top total in the Midwest was 14.5 inches in Macomb, Illinois.
Lansing, Michigan, had its record snowiest February day on Groundhog Day, picking up 13.3 inches. It topped a February calendar-day record that had stood for almost 122 years and was their snowiest single day since Dec. 11, 2000, according to the National Weather Service.
Totals in Chicagoland ranged from a few inches near the Wisconsin state line to 5.6 inches at O'Hare Airport to almost a foot near Midway Airport.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, freezing rain Wednesday night changed to a sleet and snow mix by Thursday morning, leaving roads hazardous and prompting a closure of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for a time.
Freezing rain pushed as far south as the Austin and San Antonio metro areas, which prompted the closure of elevated stretches of at least two roads in northern Bexar County.
Five to six inches of snow was measured in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while Oklahoma City picked up 3 to 5 inches. At least a quarter inch of ice accumulation was reported in Hugo, Oklahoma.
In Arkansas, up to 1.5 inches of sleet was reported in Little Rock, 2 inches of sleet blanketed Pine Bluff and almost a quarter inch of ice accumulation was measured in Ft. Smith.
Accumulating ice downed trees and knocked out power in parts of western Kentucky ravaged by the Dec. 10 tornado outbreak. The ice storm knocked out power to the entire town of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, which suffered up to EF4 damage from the tornado outbreak.
Up to a third of an inch of ice accumulation was also reported in the Cincinnati metro area and up to a tenth inch had accumulated in Pittsburgh.
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