US braces for snow and heavy rain as major storm predicted for weekend

Cities across the US are bracing for intense weather leading into the weekend, as a major storm coming in from the east brings heavy snow to northern states and intense rainfall along the Gulf coast.

Forecasters have warned that the storm could deliver heavy snowfall to north-eastern and New England states, where some cities have not had substantial snow in recent times.

Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut could see 6-12in of snow, the National Weather Service Boston reported.

A winter storm watch was also in effect in parts of New Hampshire, where the incoming storm could bring 6in of snow, the Boston Globe reported, and more than 25 million Americans are under storm watches from the Carolinas up the east coast to Maine.

Major east coast cities will probably face more rain than flurries. New York City is expected to receive less than an inch of snow, after a snowless winter last year.

It had been 690 days since the Big Apple picked up an inch or more of snow, local Fox 5 reported – a record stretch. The climate crisis is bringing milder, wetter winters to many parts amid global heating.

New York state’s Hudson valley area could get 2-4in of snow this weekend, CNN reported.

Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia could see a dusting, while most substantial snowfall will be inland up the eastern seaboard.

Georgia, Mississippi and other states along the Gulf coast were expected to receive heavy rainfall and thunderstorms starting on Friday and into the weekend, AccuWeather reported.

Intense weather conditions triggered a tornado warning for parts of south-eastern Texas on Friday morning, but ended at 6.15am central time, the National Weather Service reported.

The cross-country storm had already affected swaths of the country, including New Mexico and parts of Texas, ABC News reported.

On Thursday, the mountain area of close to Santa Fe, New Mexico, received 10in of snow as the storm continued traveling northward.

Residents of Amarillo, Texas, the largest city in Texas’s panhandle region, received 1-3in. Northern parts of the Texas panhandle faced upwards of 5in of snow.