A major winter storm will impact the tri-state area Wednesday with the potential for one of the most significant March snowfalls on Long Island in 50 years.
A deepening coastal low will move off the Mid-Atlantic coast to south and east of Long Island tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service.
A winter storm warning has been issued for heavy snow on the East End, with accumulations of nine inches on the South Fork to 12 inches across the North Fork expected, the National Weather Service said this afternoon. The warning is in effect from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday.
The storm has the potential for one of the biggest March snowfalls on Long Island since 1967, when a 15 inches of snow was recorded in Islip on March 22, according to the National Weather Service. (Official snowfall records for Islip date back only to 1963.)
The largest single-day snowfall in March in New York City was 16.5 inches recorded in Central Park on March 12, 1888. The weather service is currently forecasting total snow accumulations of 11 to 15 inches in New York City and the NY metro area, including western Suffolk.
“Travel will be very difficult to impossible, especially during the evening commute,” according to the warning statment. “Snow will develop during the morning and become heavy by afternoon. Expect significant reductions in visibility at times,” the weather service said in the statement.
“A combination of the heavy snow and wind gusts up to 40 mph could bring down tree limbs and power lines, creating power outages.” Near-blizzard conditions are possible, the weather service said.
Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said his crews, trucks, equipment and supplies are ready to go. “I have plenty of salt. All the trucks are pre-loaded. The plows are all on. We’ll wait and see what Mother Nature brings us and deal with it accordingly,” he said.
He urged motorists to stay off the roads during the storm and remove parked cars from town roads to allow plow trucks to do their work.
A coastal flood advisory remains in effect from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
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