Cross-country storm forecast: These are the regions where it will likely snow

A record snow drought will continue for coastal Northeast U.S. regions that were anticipating accumulation from the incoming cross-country storm.

Updated forecasts predict temperatures above the freezing mark, which would transform the snow currently falling in the West into heavy rain.

The storm system moved out of California Thursday morning after dumping up to 15 inches of snow onto the Sierra Nevada mountains and began passing over the Rocky Mountains.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued snow and wind alerts for 10 states from California to Kansas due to the storm.

On Friday, the storm will move into the southern Plains and the Gulf Coast states, bringing snow to regions surrounding Nebraska and Oklahoma and heavy rain and thunderstorms to the south, from Texas to Florida.

The system will then move into the Appalachian mountains by Saturday morning, spreading heavy rain and thunderstorms from Florida to the Carolinas as it moves up the East Coast.

An icy mix is expected to the north of the system, along the edge of the Appalachians from North Carolina to Virginia, with ice accumulations possible in the region.

The NWS has already issued a winter storm watch for the North Carolina mountains for Friday night and Saturday morning due to the forecast icy mix.

Washington, D.C., and Baltimore will mostly see rain from the storm, with a brief period of sleet and snow to start Saturday morning, according to current forecasts. Philadelphia will also see mostly rain on Saturday afternoon and evening, but could experience some snow as the storm begins to roll into the area.

Precipitation will begin as wet snow when New York City begins to see the effects of the storm late Saturday afternoon, but it will then switch to rain in the early evening.

However, regions north and west of New York City will experience snow. Several inches are possible in places like northwest New Jersey, the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and in New York's Hudson Valley, forecasts show.

Boston and southeast New England will begin to see snow by Saturday evening, with the precipitation lasting into Sunday morning.

While snow accumulations in Boston could measure to several inches, the heaviest snow is forecast to stay to the west and north of the city.

The fast-moving storm will then travel east of the I-95 corridor by early Sunday morning.

Some models are currently predicting more than six inches of snow accumulation possible from the West Virginia mountains to central Pennsylvania, and upstate New York into New England.

The storm system is also expected to dump more than half a foot of snow onto ski resorts in West Virginia, the Poconos in Pennsylvania, the Catskills in New York, and into the southern and central New England mountains.

Not much snow is forecast for the I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City.

New York City has gone a record 689 days since there was at least one inch of snow accumulation, last seen on Feb. 13, 2022. Washington, D.C., has not seen at least one inch of snow accumulation for 717 days, although that's not a record for the region.

Less than 25% of the U.S. is covered in snow right now, with 2024 experiencing the lowest snow cover for the start of a new year since 2012, according to the NWS National Snow Analyses.