What We Know About the Winter Storm About to Hit the US--and What We Don't A huge portion of the United States is going to be hit with snow or freezing rain this weekend. Exactly where, what, and how much remains uncertain. Over the past weekend, when weather models first started forecasting a winter storm that would sweep over large parts of the country, Sean Sublette, a meteorologist living in Virginia, started telling people in his area to prepare for snow . At the time, Sublette says, "a lot of the data started to point to a substantial snow storm for the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, with significant ice farther southward into Carolina's Tennessee Valley." Then, Sublette woke up Wednesday morning.

The storm, which is set to make landfall in Jamaica Tuesday, has stunned meteorologists with its intensity and the speed at which it built. Meteorologists who have spent the past few days monitoring the rapid development of Hurricane Melissa in the Atlantic Ocean are sounding the alarm about the storm, which is set to make landfall in Jamaica today as a Category 5 hurricane. The sustained--and growing--intensity of the storm is remarkable, experts say, and has the makings of a historic hurricane. "When I look at the cloud pattern, I will tell you as a meteorologist and professional--and a person--it is beautiful, but it is terrifying," says Sean Sublette, a meteorologist based in Virginia. "I know what is underneath those clouds."