3/14/2023: Major winter storm underway

The latest Storm Tracker Forecast from meteorologists Jill Szwed and Matt Mackie:

The much-anticipated winter storm has arrived. After rain for much of the day Monday, temperatures have fallen off and we have seen a region-wide switch to snow. It is heavy, wet, and coming down quickly. Travel will range from difficult to impossible as the day does on. Winter Storm Warnings are up for the entire News10 viewing area through Wednesday morning.

Remember to avoid unnecessary travel. If you must venture out, go slow and leave plenty of distance between yourself and other vehicles. With snow weighing down the branches, and blustery conditions (especially in the higher terrain), power outages are an additional concern across parts of our area.

Heavy snow falls all day, with some spots seeing more than an inch per hour. With winds blowing uphill into the Catskills, even greater snowfall rates are possible at times for those in the mountains.

The plows and road crews do incredible work, but when snow is coming down that quickly it's tough to keep up with it. With some light snow lingering into Wednesday morning, conditions may not improve until later that day.

By the time it's all said and done, expect a foot to 16 inches of snow along the Hudson River, from Glens Falls, Albany, and points south. The Mohawk Valley will likely see 16 to 20 inches. Two feet or more could fall in parts of the Catskills, Helderbergs, Berkshires, and Green Mountains.

This should more than make up for this winter's snowfall deficit. As of yesterday, Albany was running about 7 inches below average for the season. When this storm is through, we will be sitting at least several inches above average for Mid-March.

Even after the snow eases up Wednesday, it will stay quite windy. With temps peaking in the upper 30's, it wont feel especially comfortable out there.

After a chilly start to Thursday, we do see temperatures run a bit milder for much of the rest of the forecast period. Rain showers are in the mix for St. Patrick's Day on Friday! At least some melting of this snow in the coming days is a pretty sure bet.