A winter storm the National Weather Service is now calling “potentially historic” is forecast to drop 16 to 24 inches of snow across the region, according to the latest blizzard warning posted by the agency.
The system will pack powerful and potentially damaging winds gusting as high as 60 mph and bring with it widespread moderate to locally major coastal flooding and dune erosion/overwashes Sunday night, according to an updated warning issued just before 5 a.m. Additional coastal flooding is possible on Monday.
The heaviest snow and strongest winds are expected tonight into Monday, the weather service said.
Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow. Whiteout conditions are expected and will make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening, the weather service said. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. Travel could be very difficult to impossible, according to the warning. Travel should be restricted to emergencies only, the weather service said. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle and call 911.
The strong winds and weight of snow on tree limbs may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages, according to the warning statement.
“These conditions may down trees, branches and wires, causing outages,” PSEG Long Island said in a press release Saturday evening. “PSEG Long Island employees are ready to support the restoration efforts, including more than 600 line workers, tree trimmers, surveyors and other field personnel. In addition, approximately 260 mutual aid personnel have been secured to help address outages,” the utility said.
A winter storm emergency is in effect in Riverhead. Parking on all streets is prohibited and parked vehicles are subject to impound and towing.
The local snow accumulations being forecasted by the weather service for this storm — 14 to 24 inches — could be the highest snowfall tally in Riverhead in more than a decade, since a storm dubbed “Juno” pummeled the East End durnig the overnight hours of Jan. 26-27, 2015. Juno dumped 22 to 24 inches across Riverhead, 30 inches in Orient, 29 inches in Southampton and 26.9 inches in Mattituck, according to NWS data. The highest snowfall total the local area has seen since Juno was during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022, when 11 to 16 inches of snow were recorded in Riverhead.
Since 1978, the first year the NWS database contains Riverhead-specific reports, snow totals here only reached 20 inches or more three times: Dec. 20, 2009 (20 inches); Feb. 9, 2013 (22.5 inches) and Jan. 27, 2015 (22) inches. Those reports all originated from the weather station at the Cornell research farm in Riverhead.
The National Weather Service in New York said this morning that all guidance has converged on the evolution, track, and intensity of the system, “some subtle differences” notwithstanding. The global models take a 970 mb low close to the 40N/70W benchmark by Monday morning, while others are slightly farther west. The latter could be the difference for even higher snowfall amounts than currently forecast, the forecasters said.
Source: RiverheadLOCAL
