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Clipper system to blanket Great Lakes, Northeast with wintry mix on New Year’s Eve

By
Social Links for Brian Donegan , FOX Weather
Published Dec. 31, 2023, 2:50 p.m. ET

A fast-moving clipper system will bring light snow or a wintry mix to parts of the Great Lakes and interior Northeast as it slides across those regions on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

What is the timing of the clipper system?

On Sunday (New Year’s Eve), light snow or a wintry mix is expected as the clipper system slides southeastward from the Great Lakes region through the central Appalachians.

“It really starts to pick up later into the afternoon hours,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Kiyana Lewis said. “Notice how we’ll see snow showers from Chicago, back towards Detroit, certainly picking up over Cleveland, where we have that rain-to-snow mix. And then south of that, we actually still see rain for the course of today.”

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The system initially produced areas of freezing drizzle across the Upper Midwest late Saturday into early Sunday, leading to slick roads that triggered several crashes as drivers were caught off-guard by the patches of ice.

Overnight Sunday and into Monday (New Year’s Day), the clipper system will bring snow to interior sections of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

A pedestrian passes a snowplow in Pittsfield, Mass., Wednesday Dec. 10, 2014. A nor'easter has brought mixed precipitation to the region. A winter weather advisory remains in effect for the Berkshires. (AP Photo/The Berkshire Eagle, Ben Garver)
The clipper system will start off 2024 with snow. AP

“It switches over to snow through the overnight hours, and we’ll actually see this resurgence of snow along the central Appalachians as we head into early tomorrow (Monday),” Lewis added. “Ohio Valley, back towards say the mid-Atlantic, is next in line to see some of that active weather.”
How much snow is expected?

Less than an inch of snow with a light glaze of ice is expected for most areas between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Some of the higher elevations of the central Appalachians could pick up locally higher snowfall amounts, ranging from 2 to 4 inches.

A pedestrian walks across town as the first snow falls ahead of a winter storm on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Sioux Falls, S.D. A wide swath of the Upper Midwest is bracing for a historic winter storm. The system is expected to bury parts of the region in 2 feet of snow, create dangerous blizzard conditions and bring along bitter cold temperatures. (Erin Woodiel /The Argus Leader via AP)
Less than an inch of snow with a light glaze of ice is predicted. AP

Gusty winds could create blowing snow

While the snow won’t amount to much, gusty winds could blow some of that snow around, leading to areas of blowing and drifting snow that reduces visibility.

“Associated with this clipper, we also see those higher wind gusts coming through,” Lewis said. “So we are going to be watching wind gusts anywhere between 10 to 20 (mph), 20 to even 30 mph as this continues to move off from west to east.”