Winter storm nears
A winter storm bearing down on Connecticut could make travel treacherous from late Saturday through Sunday evening, with accumulations of heavy snow and ice raising the potential for power outages.
HARTFORD — A winter storm bearing down on Connecticut could make travel treacherous from late Saturday through Sunday evening, with accumulations of heavy snow and ice raising the potential for power outages.
A winter storm watch was expanded Thursday afternoon to include southern Connecticut, so the entire state is now bracing for a messy mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Scattered snow showers might leave a coating of snow during Friday morning’s commute, a mere prelude to a weekend storm that may drop as much as a foot of snow and ice Saturday through Sunday.
In addition to the snow predicted for the weekend, up to a half-inch of ice is possible, the National Weather Service said. Sleet might lower the predicted snow totals for southern New England, the service said.
“Power outages and tree damage are likely due to the ice,” the service warned in a Thursday alert. “Travel could be nearly impossible at times.”
A winter storm watch means there is potential for significant snow, sleet or ice accumulations that may affect travel, the weather service said.
Friday’s storm will pale in comparison. Some spots may get none at all, said Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University’s Weather Center.
Some flakes for Friday morning commute
Less than an inch of light snow was expected to fall, off and on, early Friday, Lessor said late Thursday morning. The snow was
expected to be dry and powdery, the opposite of what will fall on the weekend.
The National Weather Service said the snow is expected to fall before 9 a.m. — just in time for the morning commute.
On Saturday, everything changes.
“Then we have chaos,” Lessor said.
Saturday-Sunday slam
As of Thursday night, the weekend forecast calls for 4 to 9 inches of snow for people in Hartford, south of Hartford and in the northeastern part of the state from Saturday to Sunday, Lessor said Thursday afternoon.
“A lot of this is going to depend on how heavily it snows in the hours leading up to midnight and shortly thereafter,” he said.
People who live north of Hartford and in Litchfield County may get 6 to 12 inches, he said. Those at the shoreline would get less snow, maybe 2 to 5 inches. After the snow there will be ice, followed by more snow.
Thursday night, Lessor said he backed off a bit on some of his snowfall predictions because it appears the snow will turn to sleet and freezing rain quicker than initially expected.
The National Weather Service forecast for the Hartford area calls for heavy, wet snow, starting about 10 p.m. Saturday. (There’s a chance snow will start as early as Saturday afternoon.) The snow may fall at rates of 2 inches an hour.
At some point Sunday morning, probably after 4 a.m., the snow will morph into a potpourri of precipitation that will make for a slippery Sunday: Sleet, possibly mixed with snow, will fall, later to be joined by freezing rain, which also could be heavy at times, the service said. Freezing rain is rain that doesn’t freeze until it hits cold surfaces.
The icy mixture will keep falling Sunday. The forecast calls for freezing rain and sleet, possibly mixed with snow, before 2 p.m., followed by snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain, between 2 and 4 p.m., the weather service said.
It may then switch back to just snow, like the top bun of a crunchy ice sandwich.
While the National Weather Service forecasters may not be sure exactly what will fall and when, they are positive something will: They put the chance of precipitation Sunday at 100 percent.
“The thing we know for certain is that it’s going to be quite a bit of snow,” Lessor said. “It’s going to be a highly impacting storm, stateside. The south east might have the best chance to get out of snow first.”
Meanwhile, the temperature will drop from the 30s to the 20s Sunday afternoon, creating a flashfreeze effect. Wet surfaces will freeze in the bitter cold, the National Weather Service said.
"Everything is going to freeze solid,” Lessor said.
The snow should end before 8 p.m. Sunday night, the weather service said.
There may be some inland and coastal flooding.
Freeze into Monday
Winter weather will continue its icy grip on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It should mostly sunny but cold, with a high temperature near 11 degrees and a low of 2, the weather service said.
Tuesday also will be sunny, and the temperature will rise to the mid 20s.
It won’t be long before the next storm rolls in. There’s a chance of snow showers Tuesday night and Wednesday, the service said.