A wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain could make for “hazardous” travel conditions during the Thursday morning commute for the New York City area, the National Weather Service said.
A winter weather advisory has been issued to most of the tri-state area — including the city’s five boroughs, western Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley, northeast New Jersey and southern Connecticut — starting at 4 a.m.
The advisory for the New York City metro and western Long Island will be in effect from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m., while the remaining areas will be under an advisory until 4 p.m.
The snow is expected to develop from the southwest to the northeast in the early hours of Thursday, then mix with sleet and freezing rain by mid to late morning before changing to rain by the afternoon.
While some interior areas could experience lingering freezing rain throughout the day, New York City and coastal areas could see the wintry mix turning into rain by late morning.
Travel impacts are expected for the Thursday morning commute due to snow-covered and icy roads, especially on untreated roads and surfaces, the NWS said.
Overall, the system is not expected to bring too much snow to the area, with the higher accumulations in southern Connecticut.
Around 2 inches of snow or sleet is expected across southern Connecticut, with 1-2 inches across the Lower Hudson Valley and interior northeast New Jersey down into the northern half of the New York City metropolitan area.
For the southern half of the NYC metro and Long Island, around 1 inch is expected. However, forecasters say that snow amounts could be slightly higher if the warm air overhead is slower to move over.
“This is a fast-moving system and much of the [precipitation] looks to fall in about a 6- to 9-hour period from early Thursday morning into early Thursday afternoon,” forecasters said.