Winter Weather Alerts Issued for Four States, With Snow Set to Hit Texas

Winter weather advisories are in place for four U.S. states as meteorologists predict rain and light snow over the Midwest, with the potential for higher amounts of snow accumulation across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued alerts for snow and strong winds for parts of Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, warning of difficult travel conditions, including low visibility and slippery surfaces.

In its latest forecast, the NWS said that a low-pressure system over Texas would move northeast, reaching the upper Great Lakes by Sunday and bringing showers and thunderstorms to the Southern Plains on Friday.

A second wave of low pressure is expected to move in over the Northern Plains, producing light rain and snow, with "a few isolated pockets of rain/freezing rain."

The NWS station in Amarillo, Texas, warned that rain and snow showers were moving across western Texas and Oklahoma. "Moderate to heavy snowfall will be possible and a quick 1 to 3 inches of snow may accumulate," it said. "Be prepared for low visibility and hazardous road conditions if out traveling this morning."

An advisory is in place for Beaver and Texas counties in Oklahoma and Hansford, Lipscomb and Ochiltree counties in Texas until noon CT (11 a.m. ET) because of the rapid snowfall, as "the hazardous conditions could impact the Friday morning commute."

Residents of southwest Kansas have been warned about the potential for wet snow and additional snow accumulations of up to an inch on Friday morning as a consequence of "a quick moving band of brief heavy snow."

The NWS said on Thursday that scattered showers and thunderstorms were anticipated to move eastward through Texas and Oklahoma, with temperatures below average across the region because of cloud coverage.

Western states have faced several bouts of snowfall so far this winter, having been subjected to a "prolific series" of atmospheric river storms from the Pacific. Last winter, the states experienced the effects of a similar weather front.

Higher-elevation regions in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming have recently seen over a foot of snow accumulate in some parts as winter weather takes hold early in the season.

Regions of Alaska continue to face low visibility and treacherous conditions because of blowing snow and wind chills, with several inches accumulating across affected regions.

St. Lawrence Island, which sits to the west of the continental U.S. near Russia's eastern border, and coastal regions near the Yukon Delta could see large snow drifts form, with reduced visibility.