2025 Starting With A Winter Storm And Arctic Blast

A​n expansive winter storm will hit parts of the central U.S. this weekend and then the mid-Atlantic early next week as a much colder pattern develops east of the Rockies.

T​his system has been named Winter Storm Blair by The Weather Channel.

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What’s Kicking Off This Weekend

A low pressure system coming out of the southern Rockies on Saturday will get caught by the jet stream at the southern end of an upper-level trough.

The jet stream will carry the low across the central and eastern states this weekend into next week and cold air will be in place on the northern side of the jet stream and, therefore, the northern side of the low.

T​he winter storm will first bring snow, ice and gusty winds to the Central Plains and Midwest beginning this weekend. That includes Kansas City, St. Louis and Indianapolis.

From there, it will spread wintry weather toward the mid-Atlantic, potentially including Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

I​t's too early for snow and ice totals, but significant travel impacts can be expected in all of those regions.

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Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with a master’s degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.