New York City hit with arctic blast, lake-snow effect to batter upstate

NEW YORK — December is nearly upon us, and it’s finally starting to feel like winter in New York.

After a damp and dreary Thanksgiving, a frigid chill swept across much of the tristate area overnight and into Friday, bringing some of the coldest temperatures the region has faced so far this year.

While highs in New York City are expected to peak in the mid-40s on Friday, clouds are slated to move in throughout the day and block out the sunshine city-dwellers enjoyed during the earlier hours of the morning, according to AccuWeather’s weekend forecast. The winds whipping through NYC, some of them as fierce as 30 mph, will also make it feel much colder, like its in the 30s, meteorologists warned.

The raw chill is slated to stay through the weekend, with temperatures hovering in the 30s for much of Saturday and Sunday. Conditions will stay dry and crisp, however, with no significant precipitation in the forecast.

Farther upstate, Mother Nature served residents a side of snow with their turkey on Thursday, with additional blizzard-like conditions expected through the weekend.

More than 2 million people across western New York — including in Wyoming, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, southern Erie, Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis and Allegany counties — were under a lake-effect storm warning as of Friday morning. The advisory, issued by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, went into affect around 7 a.m. and wasn’t set to expire until Monday morning.

“Lake-effect snow develops when cold air moves over a relative warm, large body of water, most typically found in the Great Lakes,” AccuWeather Snow Expert Grady Gilman explained.

The most significant snow accumulation is expected in Oswego, Jefferson and Lewis counties, where communities could be buried by 3 to 4 feet of snow.

Wyoming, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties, as well as southern parts of Erie County are also likely to get walloped with winter weather. With snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour, residents there could face anywhere between 2 and 3 feet of snow by the time the weekend ends. Northern parts of Allegheny County will also see some of the white stuff, but only around 14 inches.

The weather is also expected to cause poor visibility and difficult commutes, prompting warnings from the National Weather Service.

“Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the agency warned, adding that the heaviest snowfall is slated to occur Saturday afternoon into Sunday.

As a result, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a ban on tandem trucks and empty commercial vehicles starting Friday at 3 p.m. It covers the New York State Thruway from exit 53 in downtown Buffalo to the Pennsylvania state line, State Route 219 from the Pennsylvania state line to I-90, and 1-86 from the Pennsylvania state line to I-390.