Winter Storm Watch in Effect: October Snowstorm to Hit Northeast This Weekend
The northeastern part of the U.S. may see the first snowfall of the season a bit earlier than usual, with weather forecasts calling for up to six to 10 inches of wet, heavy snow scheduled to hit New England and other areas in less than 24 hours.
A winter storm advisory has been put into effect for the southern Poconos, Lehigh Valley, Berks County and Northwestern N.J. from Saturday morning into Saturday evening, with wind gusts up to 20 mph and temperatures in the low to mid-30s.
"The heaviest snow from the storm will stretch from along the Virginia/West Virginia border through a large swath of central and eastern Pennsylvania to southeastern New York state, northwestern New Jersey, northern Connecticut, central and western Massachusetts to southern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine," according to Accuweather.com
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The cities that are expected to receive the heaviest snowfall, which forecasts are saying will likely begin on Saturday evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. include Hartford, Conn., Frederick, Md., Worcester, Mass., Nashua, N.H., Netcong, N.J., Newburgh, N.Y., Allentown, Pa., Winchester, Va. and Martinsburg, W.Va.
Forecasters say people should be less worried about snow accumulation and more about potentially dangerous, icy road conditions for Sunday and Monday, as the snow is expected to turn into rain and freeze over due to a drop in temperatures into the low 20s. In addition, they say fallen trees and power outages are also a possibility.
The presence of snow so early in the year is indeed a rarity for the northeast, and practically unprecedented in New York City, which the storm is scheduled to pass through, according to The Wall Street Journal. The publication claims that Central Park has only received a considerable amount of snow, meaning more than flurries but less than an inch, three times before Halloween since 1869.
