‘Significant’ coastal storm expected to hit this weekend, but will it reach Upstate NY?

Syracuse, N.Y. — Another storm coming out of the South is likely to sweep up the East Coast this weekend and could create blizzard-like conditions along the New England coast.

The National Weather Service said it’s monitoring “a significant East Coastal winter storm threat this weekend.”

At this point, forecasts show the storm hugging the coast and having little impact inland.

“I don’t think it’s going to have much effect on Upstate New York,” said Tom Kines, a meteorologist with AccuWeather. “It looks like it’s going to be too far east to affect us.”

Kines noted that the storm is still four days away, so forecasts can change.

That’s what happened last weekend, when early forecasts indicated that the huge storm sweeping across the South would miss Upstate New York. As the storm moved closer, however, forecasts called for increasing amounts of snow. In the end, the storm broke records and dropped nearly 2 feet of snow.

Kines said the areas most at risk this weekend are coastal areas like Cape Cod and Norfolk, Virginia. Heavy snow and high winds could lead to blizzard-like conditions in those spots, he said.

“It’s going to be a pretty impressive storm,” Kines said.

For Upstate New York, the weekend is likely to be dry and cold, as an Arctic air mass continues to linger above the northern continental U.S.

In Syracuse, high temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be in the low teens, with overnight temperatures dropping below zero.