MLK Weekend: Complex storm system moves through Southeast

The weekend is getting a lot of buzz! The next weather system will be brewing on Saturday, but it won´t be until Sunday when the risk for severe weather combined with winter precipitation starts affecting parts of the Southeast.

The storm system will exit the Rockies on Friday morning. This will be attached to another storm that will be crossing the High Plains, producing heavy snow across the Midwest while parts of the central Dakotas will get ice. This northern system will lose its punch and give its energy to the storm that will be traveling over Texas and into the Southeast over the weekend.

Although humidity will be increasing across the southern Central Plains on Friday, it will not create enough instability to create thunderstorms as the storm exits the Rockies. Heavy rounds of snow will be possible on Friday evening across Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and northern Arkansas.

Check how the storm will move in our interactive WeatherMap

The light to moderate rain will be confined to Louisiana and Mississippi on Saturday afternoon. By Saturday evening the storm will be intensifying as it moves into the Southeast. Strong to severe storms will be possible across Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida Peninsula through Sunday early afternoon.

Florida can expect a mostly quiet Saturday, with temperatures in the low 70s, still around average for this time of the year. Showers will be more likely for northern and central Florida on Sunday, as the front pushes through. Showers will be scattered in nature on Sunday for south Florida because the front will be losing its punch as far as the precipitation goes. Cooler temperatures will filter in by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Tennessee can expect another round of heavy rains starting on Saturday evening and all-day Sunday. The liquid precipitation will turn into ice and then snow during the late afternoon on Sunday. The snow will taper off overnight into Monday morning. Roads will be especially dangerous for the morning commute from the southern Great Lakes area through Tennessee and across the Mid-Atlantic.

The forecast gets tricky for the Mid-Atlantic through the Northeast. The GFS model keeps the center of the storm far enough inland to keep the precipitation as heavy rains over from South Carolina through the Tri-State area through Monday evening. The European weather model keeps the center of the storm a bit closer to the coast which would mean snow for the Mid-Atlantic through the Northeast.

We will continue to monitor the evolution of this complex storm system through the rest of the week into the weekend. Please check back for more updates.