The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard watch for Suffolk County as a powerful winter storm barrels toward Long Island, possibly bringing up to a foot of snow and damaging winds Friday and Saturday.
The blizzard watch is in effect from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, the weather service said on its website, noting that a winter storm watch remains in effect in Nassau County through Saturday afternoon.
Forecasters who issued the blizzard watch said Suffolk residents could expect heavy snow, wind gusts of up to 60 mph and snow accumulation of eight to 12 inches in Suffolk.
Although meteorologists have yet to issue a blizzard watch for Nassau, the weather service is predicting significant snowfall in the county and dangerous driving conditions.
Nassau may see accumulation of six to 10 inches of snow, wind gusts of up to 60 mph and temperatures in the low 30s. Visibility, forecasters said, will be one half mile or less at times.
“Heavy snow will make for dangerous driving conditions,” the weather service wrote in a statement on its website for both counties. “The heavy snow and strong winds could result in blizzard conditions…bringing down some tree limbs…and causing scattered power outages.”
The potential blizzard can lead to whiteout conditions and make travel very dangerous, the NWS said.
Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano will hold a noon press conference Thursday to discuss storm preparation.
