Expect Snow Cover Expansion East U.S. Later January

Climate Impact Company Early U.S. Notes

Issued: Friday January 16, 2026

Highlight: High wind event western Great Plains to Texas today, some Northeast U.S. snowfall, and expected snow cover expansion.

Fig. 1: NOAA/NWS weather watch, warning, and advisory areas.

Discussion: A dangerous high wind event is forecast for today across the northwest and west Great Plains (Fig. 1). Wind advisories and a Red Flag Warning extend southward to West Texas. High wind gust forecasts in the warning area reach minimal hurricane force peaking mid-to-late afternoon today (Fig. 2). A Florida Freeze reaches southward across Florida citrus. A snowy pattern shifts across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast U.S. into the weekend featuring a large swath of 2-8 inches of snow (Fig. 3). Regarding snow cover, the U.S. snow cover is below normal as mid-January arrives (Fig. 4-5). However, given the lengthy negative arctic oscillation (-AO) the remainder of January, inevitable is a southward expansion of snow cover. The GFS snow depth forecast indicates Arkansas to the Tennessee Valley is snow covered in 2 weeks (Fig. 6). Widening snow cover enables expansive cold risk peaking on the morning of Monday January 26 when Dallas dips to 31F, Atlanta is 28F, Washington is 20F, Boston is 14F, and Chicago reaches zero (Fig. 7).

Fig. 2-3: High wind event for the western Great Plains this afternoon and snowfall forecast for today to Sunday morning across the northeast sector.

Fig. 4-5: Current snow cover across North America and northern hemisphere snow cover anomalies.

Fig. 6-7: Projected snow cover for later this month and attendant coldest morning of late month.