The path of the upcoming Winter Storm Cora has been somewhat unpredictable, but early models show that the system will be impacting the southern United States by Thursday, January 9, and over the weekend. This means that residents impacted by the snow and ice from Winter Storm Blair only have several days to prepare before being hit by yet another storm. The current projection for where Winter Storm Cora, which is named by The Weather Channel, will go has shifted since models of the system on Monday.
When is the next winter storm coming to the United States?
The current model for Winter Storm Cora have it begin developing rapidly on Friday, January 10, as cold air from the north and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico merge to form a system over Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
This is according to models from weather expert Ryan Hall on Tuesday that push the development of the storm a day later than projected and moving the storm slightly to the east. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be some precipitation from the storm on Thursday, particularly in Texas, but the system is expected to increase in intensity on Friday morning. By Friday evening, the storm will move across Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.
Additional reports from The Weather Channel have a similar forecast, with the storm hitting Oklahoma and eastern Arkansas with snow while pelting much of Texas and Louisiana with rain and ice. The storm is expected to move quickly through the US, heading past the East Coast by late Saturday.
By January 11, several inches of snow will likely fall from Texas and Oklahoma to New York and Virginia, with heavier snowfall expected through Arkansas and northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.
That said, as Ryan Hall points out, the models looking at Cora are not in agreement in terms of potential snowfall, with the European model saying that the amount of snow will be smaller. He believes that this discrepancy is due to the lack of historical data when it comes to what he calls a “rare” winter storm, making the impact of Cora very difficult to predict as opposed to say, Blair.
