Long Island Weather: Worst Of Storm Arrives This Evening

The March sun prevented much of the snow that has fallen so far from sticking on Long Island roadways Wednesday, but the storm has already led to several crashes, including one in which a woman lost her life. The worst of storm is yet to come with heavy bands of snow expected to begin impacting the region in the evening.

A total of 5.5 inches of snow had accumulated in Port Washington as of 2 p.m., the highest unofficial total on the island. Other areas, though, had barely recorded any accumulation, with less than an inch reported in Massapequa and Riverhead. See all snow totals so far here.

The National Weather Service has not moved away from its predictions of about a foot of snow in total for most parts of the island. Winter storm warnings are in effect for Nassau County and western Suffolk County until 6 a.m. Thursday and until 8 a.m. for eastern Suffolk.

A combination of the heavy snow and wind gusts up to 40 mph could bring down tree limbs and power lines, causing power outages.

Most school districts on Long Island were either closed Wednesday or dismissed early, but it's quite likely conditions on the roads will be much worse come Thursday morning. About a half-foot of snow is expected to fall between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday.

The Long Island Rail Road has announced numerous cancellations for the evening rush, but photos circulating on social media of empty train cars indicate that most commuters decided to stay home today.

Any lingering snow showers should end by around 7 a.m. Thursday.