Weather Alert: 'Near Blizzard Conditions' Valentine's Day into Sunday

Written by Lanning Taliaferro (Patch Staff)

The National Weather Service has issued Winter Weather Advisories and Hazardous Weather Outlooks for Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties from 1 p.m. on Valentine’s Day to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The prediction is 3-7 inches of snow—and near blizzard conditions at times Saturday night.

Snow will start off light Saturday afternoon, along with a blast of arctic air. It will become heavy at times before tapering off Sunday afternoon. Considerable blowing and drifting snow with near blizzard conditions is possible Saturday night into Sunday morning as winds increase.

“In fact, Sunday could be the coldest day of this season for many in the Northeast, and depending on how fast temperatures fall Saturday night, New York could have its coldest day in over two decades,” writes The Weather Channel. “Once you factor in the howling northwest winds, subzero wind chills will be a reality for much of the region.”

Impacts: dangerous travel due to snow and strong winds with near blizzard conditions possible. Strong winds may down power lines and tree limbs. Wind gusts could hit 50 miles per hour.

Those winds and plummeting temperatures caused by the strengthening storm will make for dangerous conditions to be outdoors throughout the Northeast, says Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist.

Still, we’ll probably dodge another bullet.

“A close call for the Hudson Valley, but it appears that the deep intensification of this storm will occur about 6 to 12 hours too late,” says Hudson Valley Weather. “The worst impacts of this storm (heavy snows and blizzard conditions), will be confined to New England, and possibly Boston yet again.”

Image via AccuWeather.com

Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.

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