Snow forecast: Up to 8 inches possible in state’s northeast

Hartford area expected to get much less from Saturday winter storm

The Northeast is bracing for another round of heavy snow and likely power outages, including a winter storm watch for northeastern Connecticut, as a potentially major storm charges up the coast.

The winter storm watch was expanded Friday from Massachusetts into Tolland and Windham counties, where up to 4-8 inches of wet snow may fall Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The Hartford area would get much less.

The snow will be wet and heavy, and downed trees and wires may cause power outages, the weather service said.

Significantly less snow is expected in the Hartford area, where 1-2 inches may fall, although the amount of snow that falls in Hartford County could vary significantly, said Bill Simpson, a NWS meteorologist.

Generally speaking, he said, “The farther west you get, the less precip.”

Utility companies were already preparing for the storm Friday by pulling together equipment and crews at staging areas in the places most likely to get the most precipitation Saturday so that they are already in place to respond, officials said.

“As the track of this storm continues to change, we’re closely watching the weather and adjusting our plan accordingly, as well as pre-staging hundreds of workers and materials across the state,” Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom said. “We’ve stockpiled extra utility poles, wire, transformers and other equipment to ensure we’re ready to repair any damage we may see from this storm. Our crews will work around-the-clock to get the power back on for our customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

But exactly how serious the winter storm will be and where is highly dependent on the track of the storm off the coast, which will dictate the timing of when rain switches to snow, the weather service warned.

The initial changeover from rain to snow could happen around noon in Hartford and closer to 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. further east, the weather service predicted. Should the storm track farther east offshore, so too will the heaviest snow.

Snow won’t fall in greater Hartford until about noon Saturday,