NEW YORK — Long Island will likely be buried in snow by Saturday.
A nor’easter set to blanket the tri-state area and New England over the weekend could drop as much as 36 inches near Islip, according to AccuWeather’s latest predictions Thursday. More likely, though, is a snowfall closer to 12 to 18 inches.
Similar snow totals are expected in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford and Groton, Connecticut; Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire; and Portland and Bangor, Maine.
“This is going to be an intensifying storm that will produce a lot of wind, which raises concerns for blowing and drifting snow, power outages and blizzard conditions in some areas,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
The hardest hit areas are expected to stretch from central and eastern Long Island to New England, meteorologists warned.
More southern locations, including New York City, will still likely get blasted with “moderate to heavy snow” at 6 to 12 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
A winter storm watch is already in place from Friday evening to Saturday evening for portions of northeast New Jersey, southern Connecticut and southeast New York.
Gusty winds up to 45 mph could make travel difficult even before the snow accumulates.
More southern cities, like Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., will likely see just a few inches of snow.
The storm is expected to fully form off the coast of the Carolinas, then strengthen as it moves north, picking up high winds and moisture as the pressure plummets, creating a “bomb cyclone.”
But predictions are still hazy, according to meteorologists, and any shift in the storm either closer to the coast or farther into the ocean could have massive effects on the snowfall. A 50-mile shift west could double snowfall totals from New York City to Maryland, although forecasters said Thursday that such an increase seems unlikely.
Flooding is possible, particularly in combination with the new moon. Minor to moderate coastal flooding, with a storm surge up to 4 feet, is expected from New Jersey to eastern New England.
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