Frigid weather chills NYC, upstate bracing for feet of snow

With Thanksgiving in the rearview and Christmas just around the corner, it’s beginning to feel a lot like winter in New York.

While the sun was out in full force, it did little to warm the raw and chilly air wafting through the city on Saturday.

For the first time this season, temperatures dipped below freezing overnight, climbing only slightly in the early morning hours. With highs expected to barely reach 40 degrees, this weekend is expected to be the coldest it has been in NYC — and much of the tristate area — since early March.

“This will be about 10 degrees below average for this time of year,” the National Weather Service in New York said, noting that lows for the weekend will drop down to the mid-20s. The colder-than-usual weather is expected to persist all the way through next week, the agency added.

Clouds are expected to move in as Saturday afternoon progresses into evening, with the possibility for some flurries in the city.

Meanwhile, residents living upstate are bracing for some intense snowfall this weekend in addition to frigid temps, which are also expected to be about 10 degrees below average for this time of year.

Several counties — including Wyoming, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, southern Erie, Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis and Allegany — were under a lake-effect storm warning as of Friday. The advisory, issued by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, went into affect around 7 a.m. and isn’t set to expire until Monday morning.

The flakes first started falling upstate on Friday, with forecasters predicting 4 to 6 feet of snow for Watertown and other areas east of Lake Ontario by the the start of next week. Those living along Lake Erie and south of Buffalo are also expected to be hard hit. Forecasters warned of between 2 and 3 feet of snow in the region.

Lake-effect snow occurs when chilly air moves over a body of water, in this case the Great Lakes, absorbing warmth and moisture and then transferring those elements into the atmosphere. This causes air to rise and condense into clouds, which can result in narrow bands capable of producing intense snowfall at rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour or more.

Lake Erie is currently at around 50 degrees, “about 6 degrees above where we should be this time of year, that’s why we’re seeing these heavy lake-effect events,” Erie County Public Works Commissioner William Geary said. “The outlook for the next two weeks into December, we’ll probably see some more.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul had already declared a disaster emergency for the targeted counties on Friday, and the rapidly deteriorating conditions forced road closures along Interstate 90. Tandem and commercial vehicles were also banned from Interstate 86 in western New York and much of U.S. Route 219.

Forecasters warned that travel would “very difficult to impossible” for much of the weekend.

With News Wire Services

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