Winter Marches on

Gov readies Guard for 'serious storm'

Old Man Winter ain’t done yet with New York.

Gov. Hochul declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard on Monday as upstate was hit with a massive winter storm expected to drop 2 feet of snow from around Syracuse area to Buffalo.

Hochul said the National Guard would be mobilized along with 8,000 utility workers in anticipation of the snow emergency that officially began at 8 p.m. Monday night.

The powerful, Monday-intoTuesday nor’easter blasted the northeast, bringing wind gusts and heavy rain — and even the possibility of some snow — to the Big Apple as well.

“This is a serious nor’easter. It is something to be taken extremely seriously, and that’s what we’re doing here in the state of New York. And we encourage everyone to heed these warnings. This is your chance today. Get what you need, cancel your plans,” Hochul said at a storm briefing outside Albany on Monday.

The storm started taking shape Monday morning off the Carolina coast and pushed northeast, bringing a bout of heavy rain to New York by the afternoon.

As the storm progressed toward Nantucket, cold air worked its way toward the Big Apple and opened the door to the possibility of snow, Fox Weather meteorologist Christopher Tate told The Post.

“It could be heavy at times if we do switch over because the storm is forecast to have a lot of moisture with it. So if we do switch over to snow, we will likely see intervals of moderate to heavy snow reducing visibility,” Tate said.

Any snow that falls likely won’t stick as temperatures will remain above 32 degrees for the entirety of the storm. The Fox Forecast Center predicts between 1 and 3 inches of snow will be measured in Central Park if the conditions align enough for flakes to fall.

North Jersey, areas north of Yonkers and around Stamford have better chances of getting snow that accumulates, Tate said.

Parts of western and northern New England into upstate and central New York should see the heaviest snowfall. The amount of snow expected will decrease closer to the Interstate 95 corridor, including Boston and New York City, where the heaviest rain is anticipated.

Long Island will likely see heavy rain. There are currently coastal flood advisories up for all of Long Island east of Queens.

During the height of the storm, there may be sporadic wind gusts reaching up to 45 mph in New York City and on Long Island. The robust wind may cause additional flooding especially in those regions and in other low-lying areas.

The storm is expected to move out of the region by the end of Wednesday, but strong, gusty winds will linger for days, leaving the city in a chill.

Hochul acknowledged Monday that she was moving relatively quickly on this storm after facing criticism she was too slow in late December, when a deadly blizzard battered her hometown of Buffalo.

“The National Guard we have pre-positioned earlier, so that’s something that’s important,” she told The Post when asked how she was applying lessons learned from that historic storm.

But the governor claimed there was a key difference between the two storms.

“The advantage now is we know the geographic area we have more predictably,” she said. “The day before the Buffalo event, it was still expected to be a statewide event so you don’t know where National Guard needs to be.”