An icy blast making its way into the Big Apple on Monday could make the city’s roads extra slippery, forecasters predict.
The city is set to see some freezing rain early Monday that is expected to switch to regular rain by midday as the mercury rises, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Walker.
But the temperature will dip below freezing again by the evening — and rise later in the night — causing another wintry mix to fall on the city, Walker said.
That round is expected to last through early Tuesday, causing a quarter- to a half-inch of ice to accumulate, he said. The ice buildup on power lines could also contribute to possible outages.
“This morning looks to be lighter, [and] the stuff tonight into [Tuesday] morning looks to be heavier,” Walker said. “It’s all tied to one storm, but there are several rounds of moisture that are coming through.”
Commuters should take extra caution Monday night and Tuesday morning and allow extra time to stop and make turns, he said.
New Yorkers should expect a wintry mix following the rain. The Weather ChannelBut New Yorkers won’t have to break out the shovels for this storm — only north and west of the city will see snowfall, according to Walker.
While ice storms aren’t “unheard of” in the New York City region, they occur more frequently in other parts of the country, he said.
“It’s pretty common to get ice storms, but maybe not one to this extent,” Walker said. “We’re more often seeing these ice storms out in the Plains and further south.”
A Sanitation Department truck spreads salt and sand on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Peter Titmuss/Education ImagesMeanwhile, a winter storm dumping snow and ice across the southern Plains prompted a power emergency in Texas Monday, a day after the inclement weather led to multiple car crashes and hundreds of flight cancellations.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, reported rotating power outages early Monday, meaning thousands went without power for short periods as temperatures plummeted into the teens near Dallas and 20s around Houston.
Up to a foot of snow, coupled with significant ice, was expected across parts of the southern Plains into Monday, Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, told the Associated Press.
Commuters should take extra caution, says meteorologist Paul Walker. Noam Galai/Getty Images“Typically, we just don’t have quite this much cold air in place that far south,” Chenard said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson each activated National Guard units to assist state agencies in rescuing stranded drivers and other tasks amid the storm.
With Post wires
