Another winter storm is on track to slam the East Coast this weekend, bringing more snow to states still reeling from Winter Storm Fern. The latest forecast map from the National Weather Service shows which states could take the brunt of the impact.

The NWS released the map early Wednesday morning, stating that confidence has increased for “impactful” snowfall—particularly across the Carolinas and southern Virginia—beginning as early as Friday night. Coastal states from Georgia to Maine have at least a 5% chance of moderate snowfall between Saturday and Monday, which may cause travel disruptions and exacerbate lingering power outages from last weekend’s storm.

This could create a dangerous situation for anyone unable to heat their home. Most residences across the Southeast rely on electric heat, and as of Wednesday morning, more than 150,000 customers across the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky remained without power.

Another Arctic blast

The storm’s arrival will coincide with yet another Arctic blast expected to surge down over the Plains, across the Great Lakes, and through the east from Friday through Saturday.

The NWS expects this frigid air mass to break daily low-temperature records across the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast over the weekend. Gusty winds generated by the storm system are also likely to send wind chill temperatures plummeting well below zero.

Dangerously cold temperatures continue across the eastern half of the country. In some places this could be the longest duration of cold in several decades. pic.twitter.com/02yJmeWrIc

— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) January 27, 2026

“This could be [the] longest duration of cold in several decades,” the NWS stated Tuesday. “Cover up if you are outside, ensure pets and animals have protection from the cold, and continue to mitigate against frozen pipes.”

Wind gusts may also reduce visibility in areas where snow is falling, creating dangerous driving conditions, according to the NWS. Along the mid-Atlantic coast, onshore winds and astronomical high tides may lead to coastal flooding and dangerous surf.

An uncertain forecast

Meteorologists are actively tracking this system as it advances toward the East Coast. As of Wednesday, both the intensity and path of this storm remained largely uncertain, with several possible scenarios that would lead to a range of impacts.

“Forecast changes are anticipated as the system draws closer,” the NWS said.

Other forecasters say there is a growing chance that the storm could rapidly intensify into a bomb cyclone, which occurs when a mid-latitude storm’s central atmospheric pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. Bomb cyclones are more hazardous than your average winter storm because they can produce hurricane-force wind gusts and extremely heavy precipitation.

“Early Wednesday, forecast models were gradually converging on an outcome that involved a powerful storm developing offshore of North Carolina on Saturday, before becoming a bomb cyclone and passing east of New England from Sunday into Monday,” meteorologist Ben Noll reports for the Washington Post.

High-confidence scenarios would see snow develop from West Virginia to Tennessee on Friday before spreading into Georgia and the Carolinas on Saturday, with several inches of accumulation possible, according to Noll. As the storm rapidly intensifies on Saturday, much of the East Coast can expect wind gusts of 30 to 50 miles per hour (48 to 80 kilometers per hour), with potentially damaging gusts of up to 80 mph (129 kph) in the Outer Banks.

From Saturday through Sunday, snowfall should expand northward along the coastline from Virginia to Maine, with significant accumulations and blizzard-like conditions possible in southeast New England, Noll reports.

This all remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the East Coast won’t be getting a break from severe winter weather anytime soon. Frigid temperatures are expected to persist through the first week of February as the distorted polar vortex continues to send Arctic air surging southward. Meteorologists urge those within the projected path of this system to actively monitor their local forecast and prepare for another round of dangerous storm impacts.