Federal forecasters said what is likely to be the “biggest snowstorm of the season” could leave accumulated snow on the streets of New York City on Tuesday morning.
The front will blast points north and east with snow, as well, the National Weather Service said, with as many as 8 inches likely in New England.
“New York City will be on the southern edge of the heaviest snowfall and could mix with sleet at times, limiting snowfall amounts to the 2-6-[inch] range, but still likely the biggest snowstorm of the season,” the service said in a forecast discussion.
Snow was expected to begin falling Monday evening and was likely to change to sleet overnight, forecasters said. For New York City, snow could turn to rain by morning, according to the weather service office that covers the area.
Still, forecasters expected an accumulation of snow that has been rare this winter. There was a 76% probability that Central Park would get at least 2 inches of snow overnight, according to NBC New York.
Much of the Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey could get a half-foot of snow when all is said and done, the station said.
The forecast prompted Gov. Ned Lamont of neighboring Connecticut to close all state buildings under his office’s control Tuesday. In a statement Monday night, he urged the people of his state to stay off the roads if possible.
“We’ve lucked out so far this winter season with very little snow up until now, however that is looking like it will change Monday night as a significant snowstorm will come through Connecticut,” Lamont said.
He ordered nonessential state workers to work from home or, if that isn’t possible, to stay put, as 600 trucks used to salt roads and plow snow were being deployed to keep Connecticut’s roadways open.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said Monday that power outages were possible in central and western regions of the state, where higher snowfall was expected.
Federal forecasters blamed a system, with cold air “locked in place,” that’s moving east from the Great Lakes to the Northeast and eventually into the northern edges of New England.
The system triggered winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories from central Pennsylvania to coastal Maine.
Federal forecasters in Buffalo, in Western New York, said the storm had already given the area a 4-inch blanket of snow in a few hours Monday night.
The National Weather Service office that covers Buffalo described it on Twitter as a “burst of heavy snow.”
The storm was bringing steady rainfall to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., on Monday, while the Allegheny Mountains to the west were likely to get freezing fog, the weather service said.
Gemma DiCasimirro contributed.