HV Forecast: Winter Weather Advisory Issued

HUDSON VALLEY — Snow is expected to start falling in the lower Hudson Valley late Saturday morning. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory Friday morning for Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties to be in effect from 10 a.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday.

Temperatures will get appreciably colder before the storm hits. High temps Friday will only reach into the upper 20s and low 30s — around 5 to 10 degrees below normal. Lows into Saturday morning drop into the teens for most of the area.

That's good news for snow lovers, said Alex Marra and Bill Potter of Hudson Valley Weather.

"After 45 days of non-winter… this steady snow with rates of around 1 inch per hour looks really good. The entire Hudson Valley should be seeing a steady accumulating snow between 2pm and 6pm. Travel during this time will become increasingly hazardous, and is not recommended if you can avoid it," they said.

While the National Weather Service says precipitation could turn to rain, the folks at Hudson Valley Weather disagree. Because the latest storm models show a low pressure system stalling over the Great Lakes and preventing warm air from rushing up the valley, "our concern about a transition to sleet or rain has diminished greatly," they said.

The NWS expects about 2-4 inches of snow accumulation for Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester.

For Dutchess and Ulster counties, snow is not expected to start falling until the early afternoon. The NWS expects about 4 inches of snow.

Plan on slippery road conditions, hazardous enough to affect travel on Saturday. Slow down and use caution while traveling.

The snow is expected to taper off from west to east Saturday evening.

This storm is coming from all the way across the country. It became the latest bomb cyclone over the Pacific and arrived along the West Coast on Wednesday. It's been a storm-less winter so far in the region, though, with New York City having just 33 percent of the normal snowfall for the season through Jan. 16.