New York sees first impacts from winter storm as Northeast gets blasted by snow, beneficial rain

A potent winter storm system over the Northeast is bringing snow, beneficial rain and strong winds as millions of people prepare to travel ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holiday.Most of New England and parts of the Northeast will likely only see beneficial rain from this event due to warm air surging in from the Atlantic Ocean, but the higher elevations and locations directly under the cold upper-level low-pressure system may see heavy snow.Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Catskills of New York are expected to see the heaviest accumulations, with up to a foot piling up before the second half of the weekend.The FOX Forecast Center said impactful snow is falling in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, for residents above 1,000 feet in elevation.“Now, what sticks out, of course, are those purples,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Craig Herrera said in reference to the forecast snow totals map.“Those are going to be portions of the West Virginia mountains up into portions of Pennsylvania.

Of course, we’ll see that over the Poconos.”Only a dusting to a few inches is possible across lower elevations, where air and ground temperatures are warmer.The winter weather alerts have expanded since Wednesday, with Winter Storm Warnings remaining in effect for areas of West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, while portions of Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky are also under a winter weather alerts.“When you’ve got all that over portions of West Virginia, all that wind coming in from the west, banking up against the mountains, squeezing out the moisture, boom, you’ve got a whole punch in the way of snow,” Herrera stated. The National Weather Service office in Binghamton, New York, warned of a potential “high-impact winter storm” in its forecast discussion Wednesday.On Thursday morning, forecasters again warned about the potential for heavy snow.The NWS said there are strong signals that banding could move into Sullivan Count...