Flip-flop: After bout of Indian Summer, NE residents told to expect snow

September 30, 2011 – STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Snow on Staten Island this weekend? It’s a distinct possibility, though frost is more likely, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Edwards. The weather-reporting service headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, says the greater New York City area can expect its first real taste of winter as sharply colder temperatures blast across the Northeast over the next few days. The cold air is expected to visit the Great Lakes area tonight and Friday before it moves into the Middle Atlantic region. “Temperatures will fall to levels more like late November from Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. through Pittsburgh, Pa. and Charleston, W.Va.,” Edwards said. High temperatures will be stuck in the 40s, and may be accompanied by winds gusting to 30 miles per hour – which will make the temperatures seem much colder than the thermometer indicates. “Here at AccuWeather.com, we have been talking for several days about the possibility for the first snowflakes of the season on the high ground of the mid-Atlantic,” Edwards said. “The culprit behind this air mass is a secondary storm and associated front which will be dropping down into the mid-Atlantic Friday night into Saturday. This storm will draw cold air southward from Canada. At the same time, a narrow band of heavy rain is forecast to set up across parts of the Appalachians.” If it does snow – and that is really expected only higher-elevation areas – the accumulation won’t be significant. Staten Island is more likely to get some rain. As AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski pointed out, “Areas from the ski resorts of western New York State southward to the mountains of western North Carolina and easternmost Tennessee are fair game for snowflakes during the first half of the weekend, essentially Friday night into Saturday night.” The threat won’t just be confined to the Appalachians. Sosnowski points out that “Farther to the east, the highest ground in the Poconos, Catskills, Adirondacks and Endless Mountains may have some snowflakes mixing in Saturday night into Sunday morning.” –Silive