According to News 12 Meteorologist Mike Rizzo, an Alberta Clipper is moving toward the city for Saturday that will provide a quick round of snow showers that leave light powdery accumulations across the borough.
Alberta Clipper on satellite and radar.
There are a few factors that keep the snow light and powdery. For one, our air is extremely dry. Secondly, the storm is not holding a lot of moisture. Thirdly, the storm should move quickly through the city in only about 6-12 hours.
Saturday snowfall.
Since this is a low impact storm, the forecast calls for a coating to 2 inches of snowfall of the powdery snow. Snow should start falling between 9am and end near 7pm. At first, a few flakes may only be detected on our News 12 Weather radar, but they may not reach the ground. Some flakes will evaporate through the first hour or so before they reach the ground since the air is so dry. Once the snow makes it to the ground, there will be almost an instant accumulation on all surfaces given the bitter cold we’ve been experiencing for the past few days. Areas farther east in eastern Long Island and southeastern Connecticut will see higher amounts of snowfall near 2 – 4 inches.
By Saturday night, the clouds will gradually decrease and low temperatures will return to the teens.
New Year’s Eve will be quiet and mostly sunny. It remains harshly cold with highs near 20. New Year’s Eve night looks to be the coldest night of this cold snap with overnight lows near 8. This makes for a dangerously cold start to the first day of 2018. Hypothermia and frostbite and serious risks in this weather, so proper outdoor wear is extremely important.
New Year's Eve forecast.
The cold pattern doesn’t break from there. Temperatures through the next seven days look to remain below freezing.