Winter Storm Watches, Warnings in Effect For Most of New York

Empire State residents are told to stay off the roads. Gov. Hochul issued updated snow projections and an emergency order because heavy snow is expected throughout Friday.

On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul told State agencies to prepare emergency response assets in advance of a winter storm system that's expected to impact most of the snow.

Heavy rates of snowfall began Thursday night and are expected to continue through Friday evening for parts of the state.

The Capital Region and North Country are expected to see the highest snowfall accumulations with the potential for more than a foot of snow.

A general 8 to 12 inches of snow is forecast for other parts of the North Country and Capital Region, as well as the Mohawk Valley, Central New York, and Finger Lakes Regions.

The Southern Tier and Western New York Regions could get up to 8 inches of snow. The Mid-Hudson Region could see up to 3 to 8 inches.

Freezing rain and ice could impact parts of the lower Mid-Hudson Region, where a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation is expected, officials say.

Travel conditions on Friday morning could be difficult, where snow will fall at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour, causing reduced visibility on roadways.

"Despite the warm weather we experienced earlier in the week, Winter is not quite ready to be over here in New York State and we are preparing for additional snow and ice expected to impact most of the State on Friday," Hochul said.

The New York State DOT is responding with 3,466 supervisors and operators available statewide. Additionally, 75 others are available to support the response as needed.

About 40 plow truck operators and 2 supervisors are being deployed to the Mid-Hudson and Southern Tier regions.

Mid-Hudson:

• Receiving 8 plow operators from the Finger Lakes
• Receiving 8 plow operators and 2 supervisors from Western NY
• Receiving 8 plow operators from the North Country
• Receiving 10 plow operators from Long Island

Southern Tier:

• Receiving 6 plow operators from the Mohawk Valley