New York snow forecast: Will weekend storm break NYC's record snowless streak?
NEW YORK - New York City has gone nearly 700 days without an inch of snow, but this weekend's forecast shows that change could be coming.
A developing storm that is expected to eventually become the inaugural nor'easter of 2024 could bring the first significant snow in two years for several cities along the East Coast.
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The storm is forecast to develop Friday along the Gulf Coast. While computer forecast models still vary widely on snow and rain amounts and the actual track and strength of the storm, the FOX Forecast Center is keeping an eye on key takeaways that will spell out dangerous and slow travel conditions:
The exclusive FOX Model Futuretrack of the approaching nor'easter this weekend. (FOX Weather)
- An area of low pressure will develop late Friday and move up the East Coast this weekend.
- Rain, snow and ice are expected across multiple states.
- Snowfall amounts have trended down in the past 24 hours in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but parts of the Interstate 95 corridor could still pick up at least an inch of snow.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X, saying emergency response aid is already in preparation for the storm.
Weekend weather forecast: Where and when it will snow
- Friday morning: Temperatures will dip as low as the 20s in New York City. At this time, the storm is forecast to develop Friday along the Gulf Coast.
- Saturday: The area will see heavy cloud accumulation. By the evening, the storm is predicted to push off the East Coast near the Carolinas and continue to head northward. New York City could start seeing a mix of snow and rain.
- Sunday: The storm is predicted to push off the East Coast near the Carolinas and continue to head northward.
In the Northeast, the cold air and moisture will collide, spreading snow and messy travel from Ohio to the Delmarva Peninsula to New England. (FOX Weather)
Heavy snow and gusty winds will linger Sunday morning in parts of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The storm will gradually wind down Sunday afternoon.
"We were telling you at the end of 2023 that as we entered January, we were expecting the storm track to be more favorable for the East Coast, but also the cold air to be present," FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. "Well, there you go. Verified forecast. We’re in for a nor’easter this weekend, and this is going to all happen very quickly."
Where will the snow be the heaviest?
The FOX Forecast Center expects the snowfall to be heaviest in the higher elevations and communities west of Interstate 95.
By the time the storm system moves away from the U.S., many locations will have received upwards of 4 inches of snow, with some locales picking up between 4 and 12 inches of new snow.
Expected snowfall. (FOX Weather)
Wintry precipitation is expected to fall in all major cities in the Northeast. But due to the Atlantic Ocean's modification of the airmass, the heaviest snowfall totals are expected to fall outside city limits.
New York City's record snowless streak could end
New York City long-ago clobbered the old record of 383 days without an inch of snow that ended in 1998.
Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York haven't recorded an inch of snow in almost two years. (FOX Weather)
The Big Apple only saw 2.3 inches of snow over the winter of 2022 through all of 2023. That is more than a 2-foot deficit compared to the average winter season snowfall and a record for the lowest annual snowfall total.
Several cities along the I-95 corridor only saw a fraction of the snow of an average winter in 2022-23. (FOX Weather)
Philadelphia and Washington both saw less than a half-inch, leaving those cities with a 22.8-inch and 13.3-inch deficit, respectively.
When was last notable snowstorm for I-95 corridor?
Snow-lovers should feel hopeful about the weekend, even several days out, because the current storm track is promising. We have to look back to late-January 2022 to find the last notable snowstorm for the I-95 corridor. On Jan. 28-29, 2022, a nor'easter buried parts of the region under snow and even touched off blizzard conditions.
The 2024 storm will develop off the Gulf Coast and track offshore around the Carolinas. The 2022 nor'easter developed in the Atlantic off the Carolinas and traveled northward several hundred miles off the East Coast. (FOX Weather)
Cold air in place in 2022 turned all precipitation to snow. Delaware and eastern New Jersey not only saw over a foot of snow, but winds gusting between 50 and 60 mph blew around the snow, turning the storm into a blizzard, according to the National Weather Service. Blizzard conditions pushed into New England on the 29th.
Boston measured 23.8 inches of snow. New York City saw 8.5 inches, while Baltimore got 1.5 inches.
Hillary Andrews, with FOX Weather, helped contribute to this report.