Millions of Individuals within the Northeast ought to brace themselves for snowfall on Saturday night in what meteorologists are calling a major storm after a virtually two-year-long snow drought in sure main cities.
The gravity of the storm remains to be to be decided because the weekend approaches, however consultants are holding a detailed eye on New York particularly as a result of it has been greater than 700 days since Central Park in New York Metropolis recorded an inch of snow on one calendar day.
The storm will start throughout the Southern Plains on Thursday, the place it’ll collect moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, earlier than transferring in direction of the Northeast.
Whereas the storm was initially predicted to carry no less than 6 inches of snowfall within the inside Northeast, Accuweather meteorologist Tom Kines says about 1-3 inches of snow are anticipated in New York Metropolis earlier than the precipitation turns into rain.
The severity of the storm will differ all through New York. Residents additional west and north from the Massive Apple, like these close to Interstate 287, can nonetheless count on to see greater than six inches of snow. These on Lengthy Island wont see a lot snow accumulate, Kines expects.
The impact of El Nio
New York Metropolis has skilled little snowfall prior to now few years, with 2023 rating because the yr with the least snowiness, in accordance with the National Weather Service for New York, with simply 2.3 inches of snow.
The final time Central Park noticed greater than an inch of snow in a day was on Feb. 13, 2022, when 2.6 inches have been recorded.
Kines says that whereas the winters havent been dry, a lot of the precipitation has come down as rainfall as a result of there’s not a lot chilly air in place. Even this storm, no less than the best way it seems proper now, there’s not a complete lot of chilly air to cope with, he says.
El Nio, a local weather phenomenon that brings in heat temperatures within the Pacific Ocean, has additionally headed into winter for the primary time in 4 years, per the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That phenomenon tends to usher in extra storms throughout the southern U.S. which might generally take a flip to the Northeast, like meteorologists predict to see this week.
That signifies that there may very well be extra snowfall throughout the I-95 hall this winter, although whether or not or not the snow materializes is mom natures name, Kines says.
