A storm system that was already delivering significant amounts of springtime snow to parts of the Great Lakes region this week will move east on Wednesday, bringing heavy snow, soaking rains and high winds from northern New York State through northern New England, the National Weather Service said.
Here are the main things to know on Wednesday.
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Up to two feet of snow is expected in parts of northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by the end of the day.
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Weather conditions are likely to begin worsening across parts of northern New England by late morning.
In the New York City area, weather forecasters expect two to three inches of rain to fall through Thursday evening, the Weather Service said. Conditions will become windy on Wednesday, with wind gusts reaching up to 45 miles per hour along the coast.
It will be soggier farther north, including around Buffalo. Steady rain totaling between 1.5 and 2.5 inches could cause flooding in western New York through Thursday afternoon, and could cause flooding in urban areas and along rivers and creeks, meteorologists said.
Messier weather will track farther north. In the Burlington, Vt., area, a winter storm warning was in effect from 11 a.m. Wednesday through Friday morning.
“For us, the hazards are really two pronged,” Rodney Chai, the lead meteorologist with the Weather Service in Burlington, said early Wednesday.
“One is the heavy snowfall that would begin late this afternoon, pretty much into most of tomorrow,” he said. “And then the other hazard would be the strong to damaging winds, along the spine of the Green Mountains.”
Wind gusts up to 70 m.p.h. along the western downslope areas overnight could cause widespread power outages, Mr. Chai warned, adding that those winds could lead to localized whiteout and blizzard conditions across the higher passes of Vermont.
Snow accumulations will depend on elevation. Up to seven inches could fall in valley areas in the region, Mr. Chai said, and six to 15 inches of snow is expected above 1,000-foot elevations, and as much as two feet of snow by Friday morning in some areas.
Travel across the Vermont region may be very difficult, and most likely impossible on mountain passes. Hazardous conditions will also snarl the Thursday morning commute.
The Weather Service office in Gray, Maine, issued similar weather warnings, telling residents that snow will begin falling across the region Wednesday afternoon.
“Now is the time to prepare for power outages, with significant tree damage and power outages expected,” weather watchers said, adding that dangerous road conditions were expected all day Thursday.
While some New England residents may be caught off guard by the nor’easter, just days after the Easter holiday and amid spring break for many school districts, Mr. Chai said snow in April was not uncommon.
“It may come as a little bit of a shock to people because we have had a stretch of nice springlike weather and this winter has been anomalously mild,” he said. “People might have gotten a little too comfortable.”
