2013-2014 Updated Snowfall Map: Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis At Risk for Major Storms

This post contains the updated snowfall map for the winter of 2013-2014. The graphic shown reflects the areas where the strongest storms may hit. It should be noted that while it is not shown, the Ohio Valley is still in line for an above-average snowfall tally this winter.

Each winter, everyone wants to know if they'll get 'The Big One'- the winter storm that defines the season and brings enormous amounts of snow to wherever it hits. For lack of a better and more simply-defined term, we address that as a blizzard in this post. For this winter, it appears the Plains and Midwest will be at the highest risk for a significant winter storm.

Among the cities included in my forecast are Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. I placed these cities under the 'High' risk for a blizzard, due to the likelihood we will see ridging in the Southeast develop. This will help to push storm systems north, and depending on how far north they go, heavy snowfalls could very well hit those in the pink area.

In the blue, I placed Wichita, Des Moines, and Rhinelander under an 'Above Normal Threat' outlook. This is mainly due to the same reasons I described above, but I feel that a lack of confidence prohibits me from upgrading these areas. Don't get me wrong here, this is not nearly set in stone and will change, but right now, I'm just a bit more cautious with those in the blue due to their uncertainty on where storms will actually go when they are pushed north and into the Plains/Midwest.

I highlighted the East Coast on the likely event that they see coastal storms this winter, but the threat is not extraordinarily high due to the possibility Southeast ridging prohibits a lot of coastal storms from heading up into the Northeast.

Andrew