Winter Storm Watch In Effect For Putnam, Rockland, Westchester

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties as a big storm heads our way from the Midwest.

The storm is expected to begin late Sunday night and last through late Monday night.

The NWS warns that heavy snow possible with total snow accumulations of 6 to 9 inches. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could affect the morning and evening commute.

The storm may be slow to get here and then slow to leave.

There will be "a battle Sunday and Sunday night between cold dry air, and approaching snow," said the folks at Hudson Valley Weather. Then "A large ridge of high pressure in Canada will block the storm from exiting to the northeast. The result will be a storm that sits and spins off the east coast for 24 to 36 hours."

The secondary storm rolling up the East Coast could meet up with the storm coming from the west and become a full-fledged nor'easter with blizzard conditions, AccuWeather forecasters said.

There is still uncertainty about the timing and track of the storms. If the storm system off the coast stays close to land, the brunt of the storm could hit the Hudson Valley. If not, the heaviest snow could fall to our south.

"This type of setup is primed for forecast headaches," said Bill Potter and Alex Marra of Hudson Valley Weather. "With a low pressure spinning off the east coast, its position becomes very hard to pinpoint, and that makes the difference between heavy snow, or possibly no snow at all. The point we want to stress, is that there is a high potential for a change to the forecast details."

But, they said, the storm is tracking north.

"The snowfall impact on our area is DRAMATIC," they said. "With the snow focused over NYC it would be a 3 to 8 inch event around the Hudson Valley … with NYC seeing over 1 foot. With the northern solution shown on the most recent runs … the trend implies the Hudson Valley could be smack dab, back in the middle of the heaviest snows with this storm. And with this storm, the heaviest snows could easily exceed 1 foot."

Read the entire forecast on Hudson Valley Weather.

This is a developing news story; keep checking back with Patch for updates.