Syracuse, NY. – The National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for a single county in Upstate New York today.
The dubious honor goes to Oneida County, where forecasters say today’s storm will last just long enough to produce at least 20 centimeters of snow in 12 hours, the limit for an alert to be issued.
“It looks like there will be a heavy band installed over this area, the way that low pressure systems are moving around the region,” said Jake Chalupsky, a meteorologist at the weather service in Binghamton. This area is likely to see the heaviest snow rates – up to 1 inch per hour – and the longest duration of snowfall, he said.
It is unusual to have a notice for a single county.
“I’ve never seen just one county on notice like this tweeted Jill Reale, a WKTV meteorologist in Utica, Oneida county seat.
The alert is in effect until 7 am on Wednesday, although the biggest snowfall is expected between 1 pm and 6 pm today.
Oneida County’s lone status is also partly a peculiarity of how the weather service divides the territory between its forecast offices. Oneida County is the far east that Binghamton’s office releases forecasts; The neighboring county of Herkimer starts the west edge of the forecast area for the Albany office. So far, Albany has not issued a warning to Herkimer County, although Reale has said that this is possible.
It is not uncommon for the northern half of Oneida County to be included in a notice, while the southern half is not. That’s because the northern edge of the county sits at the top of Tug Hill, which was destroyed by snow from the lake effect. Weather services generally issue separate forecasts for the northern and southern parts of the county when there is snow with a lake effect.
Today’s snow is not the effect of the lake; it is a widespread blizzard from a larger system from the south.
The snow is probably spread across upstate New York today, from an inch or so in western New York to 20 centimeters in Oneida County. Winter weather warnings – less than 20 centimeters in 12 hours – are in effect in most parts of the region.
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