N.Y. weather: 2 systems to impact NYC this weekend; will there be snow?

New York’s Staten Island. Are you in the middle of organizing the forthcoming holiday weekend? Given that two storms are predicted to make for a rainy couple of days in New York City, you might want to reevaluate any outdoor events.

According to Bob Larson, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, there are actually two distinct systems to deal with this weekend, neither of which appears to be a significant storm.

The five boroughs are expected to have rainfall from the first of these two systems, which is expected to move into the region on Saturday. Areas to the north and west may get snow or sleet mixed into the precipitation as this rain falls for a while on Saturday. However, Larson points out that whatever snow that does fall in the area won’t accumulate very much.

Storms are predicted to bring rain to New York City between Saturday, January 18, and Monday, January 20, 2025, according to an AccuWeather image. AccuWeather is the source of this.AccuWeather is the source of this.

More rain is then predicted to fall on New York City on Sunday, starting later in the day and continuing into the evening.

Larson noted that the odds would once more favor rain for that, at least initially. It’s likely that the rain will turn to snow before it stops because the colder air will be pushing in on Sunday night.

Given that high temperatures are predicted to be in the 40s on both days, there is confidence that the majority of the precipitation that will fall will take the form of rain, even though specifics are still up in the air.

According to Larson, the five boroughs should receive less than a quarter of an inch of rain throughout each weather event.

A precipitation deficit

Larson points out that the city is still experiencing a precipitation deficit overall, so any rain that does fall in New York City could be seen as a good thing.

According to Larson, it would not be advantageous if that continued as we moved from winter into the growing season in the spring. We had that memorable period of dry weather in October, sort of recovered from it in November and December, and while it wasn’t particularly rainy, at least we returned to a storm pace that was more or less normal or average. Now, we’re kind of returning to dry weather.

In October of last year, there was no discernible rain in New York City for 29 days. Officials took precautions to preserve water after the city experienced a historic dry spell for weeks.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, New York City is experiencing moderate drought conditions as of Thursday, January 9.

Larson explained that the total amount of precipitation that Central Park has received this year is just a tenth of an inch. An inch and a half of precipitation would normally have fallen on the park by this time of year in January.

We’re digging a hole again when it comes to precipitation amounts, Larson continued. “We don’t think about it at this time of year because it’s not like we have gardens to water and lawns turning brown, it’s kind of out of sight out of mind.”

The New York City region is predicted to experience the coldest temperatures of the season following Sunday’s cyclone.