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When longtime Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore sounds the alarm about a storm, you listen. This is sacrosanct in the South, particularly in my home state of Florida where we all live in fear each hurricane season of Jim Cantore announcing he is coming to our hometown which typically means direct landfall of a massive storm.
While Jim Cantore has not announced where he will be setting up shop this weekend, he is raising the alarm about a massive snow storm set to pummel the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and a total area home to over half of the country’s population.
Jim Cantore Warns Of ‘Unending Arctic Cold’ And ‘Significant Winter Precipitation’
While the severity and exact locations impacted are certain to change as this week wears on, Cantore put out the call on his social media early this morning. He is saying to expect this massive storm to impact the Southern Plains to Mid-Atlantic from “Friday afternoon into Tuesday.”
Not only is it going to snow, A LOT, but the front will be Arctic conditions afterward so the snow that falls will freeze into place for days. Jim Cantore says there will be “unending ARCTIC COLD and SIGNIFICANT WINTER PRECIPITATION across most of this area. It’s going to stay VERY COLD after the event too, which makes melting and recovery much more difficult when significant ICE and SNOW fall.”
The storm will bring an array of icy conditions including snow, sleet, and freezing rain. Cantore echoed his concern about the actual amount that will fall, stating “some of the data I have looked at this morning is downright scary with respect to ICE ACCRETION.” Accretion = Accumulation, in this instance.
How Much Snow Should The East Coast Expect Including Washington D.C., Richmond, And Elsewhere?
This will be the most significant snowfall seen in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic region in quite some time. The Weather Channel meteorologist wrote “Hopefully a lot of this falls as SLEET, but some of the FREEZING RAIN COULD BE OVER AN INCH which is crippling. Double digit SNOW is likely as well especially in the mid-Atlantic region. Significant snowfall is expected in DC. ICE is possible to the southeast coast.”
Jim Cantore is just one meteorologist though, right? Surely others aren’t as bullish on this storm as he is… Wrong.
Meteorologist Hunter Ward in Asheville, North Carolina put out a graphic that shows the possibility of up to 23.2″ of snow in Richmond, Virginia and 20.0″ of snow in Asheville, North Carolina.
His graphic shows the potential of 29.6″ of snow in Knoxville, Tennessee:
Models continue to show a high end snowstorm for WNC that will last all weekend. The most recent 6z GFS model(snowfall map below) just gave the area a widespread 18"+ of accumulation. I have not seen model runs like this since the 2017 and 2018 winter storms. My tone is going… pic.twitter.com/J8S8lFQ0Hg
— AshevilleWX (@Hvward) January 20, 2026
In his post, meteorologist Hunter Ward finished by sharing his ‘main takeaway which is that “all Major weather models are showing a 12″+ snowstorm for most all of WNC. This needs to be taken seriously and you need to get a plan in place for an extended power outage.”
And here is the latest prediction shared by the popular Mike’s Weather Page:
With days ahead, now is the time to be prepared. Stock up on drinking water, have a power source in case of an extended power outage, make sure you have enough food to eat if you are stuck inside for several days.
Make a plan now and do not wait until things go South when this potentially catastrophic storm arrives.