Northern U.S. faces intense blast of snow, sleet, freezing rain

Ninety-five million people across the northern U.S. from the plains to the Great Lakes as well as the Northeast are under winter weather alerts on Saturday as a blast of winter weather could foul roads and create dangerous, icy conditions this weekend from the Dakotas to Maine.

On Saturday morning, about five inches had fallen in northern parts of the Twin Cities, said Melissa Dye, a National Weather Meteorologist based in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

“There’s quite a few accidents across the Twin Cities and there have been most of the morning,” Dye said of road conditions. “We are still getting some pretty moderate to heavy snow here.”

A pedestrian sheltered with an umbrella in Boston on Feb. 6, 2025.Lane Turner / Boston Globe via Getty Images

Dye said the snow was easily transported by the wind. “It’s a really light fluffy snow,” Dye said. “Not great snowman-making snow.”

Moderate to heavy snow is expected to blanket much of the Great Lakes Region by Saturday night, with about 4 to 8 inches expected by forecasters in most locations. Then, the system will sweep eastward. Snow has already started to accumulate in communities like Minneapolis and Fargo, North Dakota.

“This is going to be the same system that will track east and it should strengthen as it does,” Dye said. “It does look like the northeast will get more precipitation than we are here.”

By Saturday night, a wintry mix of rain, sleet and freezing rain will hit the Ohio Valley and northern mid-Atlantic. Power outages and downed trees are possible, according to a national forecast from the National Weather Service. Central Appalachia could receive a quarter inch of ice and ice warnings are in effect.

Parts of the Northeast could see 6 to 12 inches of snowfall on Saturday evening and into Sunday morning, and forecasters expect heavy snow and limited visibility. The biggest cities in the Northeast can expect significant snowfall, with 3 to 5 inches in New York City and 4 to 8 inches in Boston.

Washington D.C. and Philadelphia could receive a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain, and ice could form in some areas.