Three-to-5 inches of snow is forecast for northwestern Long Island when another winter storm is expected to bring 2-4 inches of the white stuff to the rest of the area, experts say.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Nassau County and northwestern Suffolk while the South Shore and North Fork of the Island are under a lesser winter weather advisory from midnight to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“The way that this low is positioned is really making it difficult [to predict] how much snow we’re going to get, how much ice we’re going to get,” said Lauren Nash, a meteorologist in the agency’s Upton office. “That’s really the key to this forecast.”
Either way, school, business and travel will likely be disrupted by the storm, which is expected to arrive two days after nearly 10 inches of snow blanketed LI on Monday and before a third storm might hit the tri-state area this weekend.
Up to a quarter of an inch of ice is expected to coat the ground as well, although the ice amounts may accumulate higher closer to the city, Nash said.
Flakes are forecast to start falling first early Wednesday morning, reducing visibility to as low as a quarter of a mile. Then the precipitation will change to sleet and freezing rain, according to the NWS. The combination is expected to make for hazardous driving conditions.
Temperatures will drop down to the 20s overnight are expected to stay in the low 30s for the rest of the week.
The latest snow storms come less than a week after Groundhog Day, when Malverne Mel and Holtsville Hal both predicted an early spring.
