Strong winds leave thousands without power

Arctic cold front also expected to bring snow squalls

High winds knocked out power to at least 3,000 customers in the Capital Region on Monday — just a preview of what the region might have experienced as winds continued through the evening.

As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, National Grid reported more than 2,696 customers without power in Bethlehem.

At 6 p.m. Monday, National Grid reported more than 200 customers in Albany County without power, more than 300 in Warren County, and others in the dark in Saratoga, Schenectady and Fulton counties.

Earlier in the day, 320 customers were without power in Rotterdam and another 189 customers were without power in neighboring Princetown. Those areas appeared to be back online by 5:30 p.m.

Several other towns reported scattered outages affecting a small number of customers. That number may have grown as meteorologists predicted that punishing winds would move into the Capital Region.

The arrival of a storm packing wind gusts of up to 60 mph around Albany could bring down trees and power lines Monday into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The winds were expected to blow in with an arctic cold front, which the National Weather Service expected could bring a vicious mix of powerful gusts, snow squalls and brutal wind chills.

The agency's meteorologists predict wind gusts should rise into the 40 to 50 mph range in much of the Capital Region and upper Hudson Valley, but they warn the number could reach 60 mph around Albany.

The cold front will bring sustained winds in the range of 25 to 30 mph, meteorologists said.

Much of the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley are under a wind warning, which began at 1 p.m. Monday and is expected to last until 1 p.m. Tuesday.

The weather service reminds residents that unsecured objects could be thrown around with the wind.

In addition, meteorologists also warned that drivers could be blinded by scattered snow squalls, which were to hit the region during the evening Monday.