The nation's weather

Weather Underground Forecast for Monday, March 18, 2013.

The winter storm in the Northern Plains will continue on a northeastward track toward Lake Superior on Monday. As the system progresses, strong winds and moderate to heavy snows will continue across portions of the Upper Midwest ahead of the system and it¼'s associated cold front. Heavy snow showers in North Dakota will become more moderate through the day as the main focus of precipitation from this storm shifts to the east. Despite easing snow showers, strong winds on the back of this storm will continue and may lead to areas of lowered visibility. Meanwhile, heavy snow showers will continue across Minnesota, while bands of snow continue across Iowa and head eastward into the Upper Great Lakes. Minnesota will see the heaviest snow accumulations from this storm as total snow accumulations are expected to range between 4 to 8 inches by Monday evening with higher amounts of 6 to 10 inches possible in northwestern Minnesota. More moderate snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches are anticipated in Wisconsin, and light snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are expected in Iowa.

Meanwhile, rain and wintry precipitation will continue across the Ohio Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic as a cold airmass lingers over the region and another storm system begins to lift northeastward across the Ohio Valley. This precipitation will spread into the Northeast Monday evening and continue into Tuesday as the system eventually merges with the aforementioned storm in the Upper Midwest. Throughout this progression, a trailing cold front will move eastward into the Eastern Valleys and Southeast with rain showers and thunderstorms. Areas from the Lower Ohio Valley southward into the Central Gulf Coast States will see a slight risk of isolated severe thunderstorm development on Monday with locally damaging wind gusts and limited large hail events.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Sunday have ranged from a morning low of -27 degrees at Crane Lake, Minn. to a high of 91 degrees at Falfurrias, Texas