How much snow will Rochester get? Snow expected for millions in Northeast as storm develops

Victoria E. Freile, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·3 min read

A winter weather system moving through the U.S. is expected to wallop the East Coast this weekend with a mix of snow and freezing rain from the southern Appalachians to the Northeast — although it's still too early to say exactly which areas will get what kind of precipitation and how much.

Details on the storm's path should firm up this week as the Pacific system moves through Colorado and New Mexico Thursday and into Texas and the Southeast before moving up the East Coast, said Tony Fracasso, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

"It’s still a few days away, so we’ll have to hash out the storm track — where the precipitation falls, and how long the cold air can stay," he said Wednesday.

How much snow could Rochester NY get from storm?

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Buffalo said the storm's path is still in flux, but at this point, the Rochester region may see about an inch of snow as a result of the storm - and if that occurs, snow is expected Saturday night into Sunday.

Forecasters said that as of Thursday morning, there is a 50-50 chance that Rochester will see snow in connection with the larger snow system.

How much snow is expected in New York and northeast?

According to AccuWeather, the storm is expected to dump up to a foot of snow on parts of the northeast, with the heaviest snow expected to fall in parts of West Virginia, central Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The highest predicted snowfall could reach 20 inches, according to AccuWeather.

An early forecast map from AccuWeather Thursday morning shows that 1-3 inches of snow is likely to fall in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City. Three to 6 inches of snow is expected in Pittsburgh and other parts of Pennsylvania and New York's Catskills and Southern Tier and up to a foot in Boston.

A forecast map shows 1-3 inches of snow is likely to fall in some major East Coast cities this weekend but that some parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts could see a foot of snow.
A forecast map shows 1-3 inches of snow is likely to fall in some major East Coast cities this weekend but that some parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts could see a foot of snow.

"Any accumulating snow can result in significant travel slowdowns, but this storm may have greater impact than others of similar magnitude because it has been such a long time since more than 1 inch of snow has accumulated in these areas – it can take people a bit of time to once again get used to driving in and otherwise dealing with the snow," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said in a news release. "This is typically experienced during the first snowstorm of a season, like this one, but is amplified since it’s the first storm in several years,”

Major U.S. cities accustomed to white winters — such as Boston, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia — didn't receive much snow last year due to a lack of cold air.

Earlier this week, the NWS of New York said that 2023 would go down as the city's “least snowiness” year, with just 2.3 inches measured in Central Park.

Contributor: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester NY Weather: How much snow will we get from storm?