Major Winter Storm to Hit the Northeast this Weekend: What to Expect

“We expect the snow to start after midnight on Friday, perhaps about 2 o’clock in the morning”, said Jay Engle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists predict the storm will focus most of its power on Washington, D.C., which could see around 2 feet of snow and risky blizzard conditions from Friday through Sunday.

Snow in much of Kentucky and Tennessee led school districts and some universities to cancel classes Wednesday and contributed to at least one traffic death, and officials warned motorists to be cautious of slick roads.

Communities on the East Coast braced Thursday for what could be the winter’s biggest storm yet – or could peter out, depending on how the system moves, where you are and what falls from the sky. As a result, the models have begun to converge on a solution that takes the storm offshore to our south on Saturday night, keeping the majority of the snowfall along or south of the MA coastline.

Staten Island is under a Blizzard Watch for wind gusts of almost 70 miles per hour and over 1 foot of snow from Saturday into Sunday.

Maryland Department of Transportation spokesman Charlie Gischlar says crews got stuck in lengthy backups Wednesday night, slowing their progress.

Wednesday night, temperatures dropped into the mid-20s, which could cause some black ice this morning, he said.

The National Weather Service says near Blizzard like conditions could exist at times.

The United States capital could experience around 12 to 24 inches of snow.

“We’ve got some area work that they can do so they will be on site and ready to respond at a moment’s notice”, he said.

A major snowstorm could blanket much of the eastern United States late this week in the first wintry blast this season for tens of millions of people in the area, forecasters said.

Light snow accumulation and some ice was already being reported on Wednesday afternoon in the western Carolinas and northern Georgia, according to the National Weather Service.

One to two inches of a rain-snow mixture is expected.