New York City could wake up Tuesday to several slushy inches of snow from a massive storm system that swept through Oklahoma with hurricane-strength wind gusts and is touching off tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana.
(Bloomberg) — New York City could wake up Tuesday to several slushy inches of snow from a massive storm system that swept through Oklahoma with hurricane-strength wind gusts and is touching off tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana.
The fast moving system could bring as much as 5 inches (13 centimeters) of snow to Manhattan’s Central Park starting between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. On Sunday, a rare winter derecho swept Oklahoma with wind gusts as strong as 78 miles (126 kilometers) per hour, tearing roofs off homes and knocking down trees and powerlines, according to the National Weather Service.
- Read more: Derecho With Hurricane-Strength Winds Knocks Out Oklahoma Power
For New York City, it will be “their snow storm of the year at this point,” said David Roth, another senior branch forecaster at the WPC. Mild weather has spared the city from harsh winter conditions so far this season.
The name derecho derived from the Spanish in the 19th century to describe winds that were straight and not twisted as tornadoes are, the weather service said. Derechos cover wide areas and often appear on radar as a large, bow-shaped line of thunderstorms.
In New York, temperatures won’t stay cold enough to keep the snow on the ground for long and as mild readings arrive later Tuesday, rain could wash much of it away. However, the overnight snow will likely create a slippery commute in New York, as well as Boston, possibly leading to flight delays at the region’s airports and tying up some commuter traffic.
Since Dec. 1, just 0.4 inch of snow has fallen in Central Park, which is 22.9 inches below normal for this time of year, NWS data show.
As winter transitions into spring, the storms get smaller, which has allowed low pressure to form near Atlantic Canada, Roth said. This has led to a subtle shift in the pattern bringing colder air to the East Coast and raising the chances for snow.
“We have had a number of years in the last 20 when winter has been mild and then it ends cold,” Roth said. “It would be interesting if this was one of those years when March was cooler than February.”
While temperatures will reach a mild 57F (14C) degrees Thursday, they will drop to near freezing late in the day with possible snow overnight into Friday.
(Updates forecast and details of Sunday’s derecho starting in second paragraph.)
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