Weekend storm brings season’s first widespread freeze to millions across U.S.

Key Points:

• A departing storm dropped over a foot of snow in parts of New York State on Friday, with Hartwick receiving 12.5 inches and other areas like Burlington and Exeter Center also seeing significant snowfall.
• This weekend will bring the nation’s first widespread freeze event of the season, with frost and freeze alerts from eastern Oklahoma to the coastal Carolinas, affecting cities such as Tulsa, Atlanta, and Raleigh.
• The West Coast faces heavy rain from northern Washington to southern California, with the Sierra Nevada mountains expecting 12-18 inches of snow above 6,000 feet, and isolated thunderstorms possible in southern California, including Los Angeles.
• Southeast Texas and western Louisiana will experience heavy rain on Sunday, with potential urban flooding and rainfall amounts of 1-5 inches, particularly impacting Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, and Lake Charles, along with a risk of strong storms with damaging winds.
• Following the departing storm, cold northerly winds will cause lake-effect snow and light precipitation across the Adirondacks, Berkshires, and the Green and White Mountains in the Northeast.