Though the calendar is inching toward the end of April, more than 1.5 million people were bracing for heavy snow on Monday afternoon as a spring storm moved across the Northeast, bringing the potential for power outages and slushy roadways.
The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning for counties across northern Pennsylvania and central and northern New York that it said would be in effect from Monday night through noon on Tuesday. Snow could make travel “very difficult,” it said, warning that heavy, wet snow could cause scattered power failures.
A mix of rain and snow was expected to spread into much of Central New York and Northeastern Pennsylvania on Monday and change to snow in many areas before tapering off Tuesday morning, forecasters said.
The Weather Prediction Center said on Twitter on Monday that snowfall totals over six inches were likely at elevations above 2,000 feet in some areas, including the Adirondack, Catskill and Pocono mountain ranges. The highest ranges could get more than 10 inches, the center said.
“Hazardous to difficult travel conditions are expected to develop due to the slushy, snow-covered roads,” the center said.
Robert Deal, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y., said on Monday that the snow would be “more like cement and paste rather than the dry, fluffy stuff” and that in some areas it could fall at a rate of one to three inches per hour.
The snow “can quickly overwhelm the ability to treat roads, and it will also start to accumulate rapidly,” Mr. Deal said.
In New York State, which was expected to get the brunt of the storm, snowfall of up to 11 inches is possible in some northern counties, according to the National Weather Service. Areas in higher elevations are more likely to have higher snowfall totals, while urban areas at lower elevations will see less, Mr. Deal said.
“I wouldn’t consider this to be a normal snowfall,” Mr. Deal said, noting its timing nearly a month after the start of spring. “That’s definitely reaching towards the higher end of totals.”
Forecasters said that high snowfall amounts and the rate at which the snow falls could create the potential for power failures in some areas.
“We’re looking at things and growing increasingly concerned about the impacts of power outages, with snow occurring this, kind of, late in the season,” Mr. Deal said. “It definitely looks like we could be seeing quite a bit of snow accumulating on trees and power lines, and potentially seeing numerous power outages in the higher elevation areas.”
New York City will be spared from snow, but it will get rain Monday evening and overnight, with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, according to the Weather Service.
In northwestern Massachusetts, the storm was expected to bring widespread rain and wet snow late on Monday night into Tuesday.
“It’s not going to be a winter storm for us,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Boston.
Lily Chapman, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Binghamton, said that snowstorms were not uncommon in April, but she added that people in the Northeast might not have an appetite for snow in the spring.
“After we’ve had such pretty nice weather, I think maybe people are probably not really in the mood at this point for it or ready to deal with it,” Ms. Chapman said. “Just be prepared to maybe have to shovel and for a sloppy commute, possibly.”
