Bitter cold to hit Utica in wake of big East Coast storm, but snow will mostly miss us

Heavy snow and howling winds from a potential "bomb cyclone" are expected to wallop much of the East Coast on Friday and Saturday. But don't expect a snow day here anytime soon.

While the winter storm will hit areas like the lower Hudson Valley, New York City and eastern New England, the Mohawk Valley will be spared, said Mike Kistner, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Binghamton.

"The storm isn't going to impact us at all," he said. "It's going way, way too far east."

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While a hazardous outlook has been issued for Oneida and Madison counties, snow accumulation of less than half an inch is predicted overnight Thursday, as well as on Friday in Utica, according to the NWS.

That snow is from an incoming cold front as well as some possible lake effect snow, Kistner said.

"As far as the big storm goes, it's going out to sea," he said.

But the Mohawk Valley won't be completely unaffected by the storm. Once it passes, the flow behind it will pull down more Arctic air out of Canada, bringing cold temperatures and wind chill, Kistner said.

"We're looking at temperatures well below zero once again," he said.

Lows of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit are predicted for Utica Saturday night, according to the NWS.

H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Weather Utica NY arctic cold coming Mohawk Valley this weekend