01/05/2024: The first winter storm of 2024
The latest Storm Tracker Forecast from Meteorologist Jill Szwed.
Happy Friday! Old Man Winter has finally arrived. It's all about the cold today. We are waking up to wind chills in the single digits and teens. Despite sunny skies again, there won't be much of a warm up. It will "feel" like the teens and 20s for the better part of the day.
Now is the time to prepare for the weekend winter storm. Whether it's grabbing the essentials at the store, tuning up your car and snow blower, or de-decorating. Clouds from the storm will start showing up tonight. It won't be as cold with a lighter breeze and lows around 20 degrees.
Conditions will deteriorate Saturday night. We are tracking the snow to push into the Catskills around sunset (5 PM.) Roads will quick become snow covered and visibility will be reduced. Best to stay off the roads through Sunday afternoon.
It will be snowing area-wide by midnight. The snow doesn't just become widespread and steady, but the intensity will pick up, especially to the south of Albany. Some spots could pick up an inch per hour. The heavy snow will continue through noon on Sunday. At the same time the wind will pick up. Power outages may become a concern in the hills, especially to the south. Gusts up to 30 mph are possible.
Alright, how much snow can we expect? Models have been bouncing the storm's track around the past two days. One run it's near the coast, the next it moves off the sea to our south. Therefore, snowfall outputs have been going back and forth.
We are still confident that this will be a moderate to heavy snow event. A shadow off of the Green Mountains is giving us a fit. An area of lower snow totals looks to include Glens Falls and Albany. But how far south will it go into Rensselaer County? Also upsloping west of Lake George into the eastern Adirondacks - how steeply will accumulations ramp up?
The start of next week will give us a chance to catch our breath. The next storm, though, is right around the corner. It looks to be a messier storm with snow, rain, and windy Tuesday into Wednesday.