The Northeast is forecast to get sleet and snow starting on Monday and continuing into Tuesday after a mild winter in which the region has been spared the kinds of snowstorms that have affected other parts of the United States over the past week.
Five to eight inches of snow are possible in interior portions of the Northeast, including New Jersey, the Lower Hudson Valley and southern Connecticut, with the first flakes starting late on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in New York.
Snow-covered roads are expected to make for a slow commute on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
Two to six inches of wet snow and sleet could fall in northern areas of New York City, Long Island and parts of New Jersey, on Monday evening until early Tuesday before the precipitation transitions to rain in the city and along the coast, forecasters said.
“Snowfall amounts for the N.Y.C./N.J. metro and Long Island are the most uncertain,” the National Weather Service said in a statement.
New York City recorded its first measurable snowfall of the season only on Feb. 1, with less than half an inch recorded at Central Park, according to the Weather Service. It had been 50 years since New York City waited that long for measurable snowfall.
In the past week, snow coated parts of the United States, including Los Angeles County, which faced an uncharacteristic blizzard warning.
Snow and rain in Southern California posed a threat of flooding. Simultaneously, winter weather in the Midwest resulted in at least one death and caused disruptions across several states. Nearly 200,000 customers in Michigan remained without power as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. Consumers Energy, a public utility in Michigan, said on Twitter that it had restored power to emergency services and was now “down to the frustrating part of a big storm event. The small outages.”
Going into Tuesday morning, Connecticut, Rhode Island and central Massachusetts can expect three to six inches of snow, with two to five inches forecast across eastern Massachusetts.
Five to 10 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour are expected Monday into Tuesday in mountain areas, including the southern Adirondacks in New York, southern Green Mountains in Vermont, the Berkshires in Massachusetts and the eastern Catskills in New York, according to the National Weather Service in Albany.
“Begin needed preparations at home or with your vehicle,” forecasters said. “Travel may become difficult, so plan accordingly.”
While New York City has been spared harsh winter weather this season, a December blizzard in Buffalo that left four feet of snow and brought winds that reached 70 m.p.h. left at least 40 dead and fueled a debate about the effectiveness of the storm response.
Business has been slow for the snowplowing and landscaping company, Girl Plower, that Gina Dandrea operates with her wife in Rochester, N.Y. They have gone to Buffalo, almost 80 miles away, to find work.
Their philosophy for every storm? “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Ms. Dandrea said. That includes monitoring forecasts, fueling trucks and mobilizing drivers.
A slow snow season like this winter’s could affect how many residential clients their company can secure in the coming year because the company’s services are contracted ahead of stormy weather.
“For the seasons in the future, people are going to think they don’t need plowing services because this season was a fluke year,” she said.
Remy Tumin contributed reporting.