Potential nor’easter, wintry weather to sweep the Northeast this weekend

Winter weather is returning to the Northeast this weekend in a big way, with a potential nor’easter set to follow early next week.

With the official start of spring less than two weeks away, forecasters said the weather for the next few days will look like anything but. A dangerous winter storm, known as an atmospheric river, is forecast to dump massive amounts of snow and rain across swathes of California before beginning its journey up the East Coast over the weekend.

The forecasters have warned “Large amounts of heavy snow” will fall throughout the day on Friday in the mountains of northern and central California, where many cities are already covered in snow.

He a storm is expected of the Rocky Mountains later Friday and moving southeast through the weekend from the northern Plains to the upper Midwest, according to Accuweather.

Forecasters are forecasting at least a few inches of snow in the Chicago area and 4 to 8 inches in Detroit by Friday night.

From there, the storm will move further east and will likely bring 3 to 12 inches of snow to parts of the Northeast, including northern Pennsylvania and parts of southern New York.

“Even around New York City, the storm is likely to start as rain Friday night, thanks to temperatures in the 40s early in the storm,” said Bill Deger, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist.

“But, as this storm moves east and tries to reorganize along the mid-Atlantic coast at the last minute, there will be a transition to a wintry mix and then snow around the greater city of New York, and a muddy buildup is possible Friday night. night to Saturday morning.”

Winter weather advisories have been issued from the southern Great Lakes to parts of Pennsylvania, New York, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of West Virginia and northwestern Virginia.

Forecasters are also monitoring a second storm that is expected to “rapidly strengthen along the East Coast early next week,” said Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather’s lead long-range meteorologist. It is expected to move across the Atlantic and up over southeastern New England, then mountainous regions from the Poconos to the Catskills and Berkshire.