Snow, Sleet, Rain: Weekend Storm Could Bring Any, All To The HV

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Wild winter weather could be headed our way, though careful forecasters are hedging their bets.

So while snow-lovers are excited, and snow-haters are worried, it's important "to remain cautious and aware of the high uncertainty, and potential for this storm to miss entirely," Bill Snow of Hudson Valley Weather said on Facebook. "A LONG week lies ahead. We'll do our best to have some fun ... while also accurately forecasting this storm threat."

Where it'll come from: a cross-country storm, starting off on the West Coast, that is forecast to intensify in the eastern U.S. late in the week, said Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist. "AccuWeather meteorologists anticipate major travel disruptions on the roads and at the airports from the storm in the Northeast due to a wide variety of precipitation on the way for this weekend."

It would be a change. There's been a snow drought along much of the I-95 in the mid-Atlantic, he said. New York City and Hartford, Connecticut, for example, received only a trace of snow in 2023 — while the historic average is 5.5 inches in NYC and 12.2 inches in Hartford.

How much snow will depend on the track and strength of the storm, Sosnowski said.

"The weather is swinging to the wild side of the pendulum," Bruce Furbeck from First Due Weather said on Facebook. "Storms tend to travel the same path, over and over once a pattern evolves. A pattern is evolving. Our observations from these first few events of the New Year may set up our forecast for the remainder of winter. We have to watch the rain/snow line ... It will be close. Too close means potential for lots of ice (sleet and freezing rain) and mixed precipitation (rain, snow, and ice) or even rainfall."

No matter what else happens, it's going to get colder — high temperatures in the 30s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Here's the 6-day forecast from the National Weather Service, based on northern Westchester:

• Tuesday - Sunny. Highs in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.
• Tonight - Clear in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s. West winds around 5 mph.
• Wednesday - Sunny. Highs in the lower 40s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.
• Wednesday Night - Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of snow showers after midnight. Lows in the upper 20s. West winds around 5 mph. Chance of snow 20 percent.
• Thursday - Mostly cloudy in the morning, then becoming mostly sunny. Highs around 40. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph in the afternoon.
• Thursday Night - Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 20s.
• Friday - Sunny. Highs in the mid 30s.
• Friday Night - Mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 20s.
• Saturday - Partly sunny in the morning, then mostly cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 30s. Chance of rain 30 percent.
• Saturday Night - Snow and rain likely in the evening, then snow likely after midnight. Lows in the upper 20s. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.
• Sunday - Snow likely, mainly in the morning. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. Chance of snow 60 percent.
• Sunday Night - Mostly cloudy in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 20s.