By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Feb 24, 2023 1:34 PM EST | Updated Feb 27, 2023 10:30 AM EST
After two weak storm systems clipped the Northeast this past weekend, AccuWeather forecasters warn that a larger, more impactful system is on the way, and will begin impacting the region late Monday. A second major storm is slated to arrive at the end of the week.
A significant storm, which contains the energy from the powerful storm that unloaded inches of rain and feet of snow on Southern California into Saturday, will arrive in the region early this week, AccuWeather Meteorologist Bill Deger said.
There is a high risk of significant travel disruptions from New York and northern Pennsylvania to much of New England from later Monday to Tuesday, where all or mostly snow and ice is likely from the storm.
“This is likely to be the biggest storm of the season to date for much of the Northeast, including New York City,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and New England native Joe Lundberg said.
From 6 to 12 inches of snow could be unleashed from the storm should it develop to its full potential. This would be most likely to occur in a large part of Vermont and New Hampshire, but also in much of western Massachusetts, northwestern Connecticut, southern and central Maine and in portions of eastern New York state, where temperatures will remain solidly below freezing through the duration of the event.
“The potent storm will bring plenty of moisture but will also have some warmer air with it, so it appears to be another rain event for Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia,” Deger said. “The New York City area, as well as along the southeastern coast of New England, will be closer to the interface between the cold and warmer air, so a wintry mix is more likely to occur there.”
In the New York City area itself may see a sharp contrast in totals, ranging from an inch or less south of the city to 3 inches or more in the Bronx, as well as in much of northern New Jersey and western Connecticut. The key to the exact amount New York’s five boroughs will be whether or not warming winds kick in from the ocean or cold winds from the Hudson Valley dominate at the height of the storm. The latter would result in several inches of snow, while the former would mean a quick change to rain or more of a wintry mix.
It would not take much for the Big Apple to end up with its biggest snowfall of the season so far. New York’s Central Park has only picked up 0.4 of an inch of snow all winter, and all of that fell on Feb. 1. A few non-measurable amounts of snow have occurred throughout the season. The historical average snowfall for this point of the season is about 24 inches.
Just south of where the heaviest snow will fall, a wintry mix will bring enough accumulation to make roads slippery for a time from central Minnesota to portions of central and northeastern Pennsylvania, western and central New York and northern New Jersey.
