Oneida braces for nor’easter

Oneida DPW workers and other officials are preparing for a nor’easter that is expected to hit the area Monday night and continue until 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. The storm will hit New jersey, downstate New York, and New England throughout this week.

Meteorologist Joanne Labounty of the National Weather Service’s Johnson City office said the Oneida area will likely have up to three inches of snow by Tuesday morning and more snowfall throughout the day. The NWS predicts up to 12 inches along the Rte. 5 corridor in northern Madison and southern Oneida counties.

“We will likely see a mix of snow and rain, and another five inches by this afternoon,” she said. “Temperatures will likely be in the mid30s.”

Labounty said the snowfall will have a mixed impact on driving. Any snow that falls likely won’t stick as temperatures will remain above 32 degrees for the entirety of the storm.

“The snowfall will not collect so much on roads as on grass and cars,” she said. “It will snow heavy at times, more rain than snow, and the downfall will become more snow and less rain by ten this evening. We could see another inch overnight and into Wednesday morning.” Labounty urged caution while driving. “This time of year, in March and late winter, especially with the sun at a higher angle, roads might just be wet and slushy and a little more sticky at higher elevations,” she said. “It’s something to be mindful of.”

Power outages may result from the storm. “With the wet, heavy snow some scattered power outages are possible,” Labounty said.

Wind speed will be moderate. “It won’t be

too windy until tonight as storm passes by, maybe fifteen-to-thirty miles-perhour through Wednesday morning,” she said.

A nor’easter, or an East Coast low, is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast.

The NWS predicts total snow accumulations of nine-to-18 inches in central New York. Heavy snowfall amounts greater than 20 inches are possible in the Catskills above

1300 feet and in the hills south of Syracuse. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph today in some areas.

Temperatures are expected to hit the low 40s by Friday with ongoing rain and light snow.

FILE PHOTO An Oneida resident shovels snow during a past winter storm.