NEW YORK CITY — The city is headed for a wintry mess this weekend.
Up to a foot of snow could blanket city streets this weekend as a major snowstorm is expected to hit Friday night into Saturday — as temperatures begin dipping dangerously low as of Tuesday, meteorologists warn.
Windchills will have it feeling below zero, they said.
The National Weather Service put all five boroughs on alert for hazardous weather starting Tuesday until the end of the weekend.
While the alert is not officially a forecast, the Weather Channel predicts Friday night's storm could bring between 5 and 8 inches of snow over the weekend, while AccuWeather predicts up to 12 inches. The storm may include heavy snow, strong winds and significant coastal flooding, experts said.
Surprisingly good agreement both long range models for Friday/Saturday Northeast snow event. 4 days to watch pic.twitter.com/FjHqOCm57O
— Bill Karins (@BillKarins) January 18, 2016The city has not yet released any specific plans to prepare for the storm, but Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "So far we know about this storm, it's not the kind of level that would knock out train service." No additional changes to the MTA weekend schedule were planned because of the storm.
Last week, the Department of Sanitation of New York announced it was preparing for a possible weekend snowstorm. That storm ended up producing just a light layer.
There's always something so magical about the first snow. #NYC (📷: @gigi_nyc) pic.twitter.com/tRjHI5cM9H
— EverythingNYC (@EverythingNYC) January 18, 2016But even without storms, the cold weather is already having an effect. Monday night, 103 people were brought in from the cold under the City's 'Code Blue' policy that expands outreach to bring homeless inside when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. 173 people sought shelter and medical care at the city's hospitals.
To get updates about the storm and the city's preparations, visit the NYC Severe Weather website.
