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Syracuse, New York State. – The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for a single county in upstate New York today.
Questionable honor goes to Oneida County, where forecasters say today’s storm will linger just long enough to produce at least 8 inches of snow in 12 hours, the threshold for a warning to be issued .
“It looks like there will be a heavy group set up over this area, the way low pressure systems move in the area,” said Jake Chalupsky, a meteorologist with the Binghamton Weather Service. This region 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 warning for just one county.
“I have never seen a single county under a warning like this,” tweeted Jill Reale, meteorologist for WKTV in Utica, the county seat of Oneida.
The warning is in effect until 7 a.m. Wednesday, although the heaviest snowfall is expected between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. today.
Oneida County’s lonely status is also part of a quirk of how the weather service divides the land between its forecast offices. Oneida County is the most easterly where the Binghamton office issues forecasts; neighboring Herkimer County begins the western boundary of the forecast area for the Albany office. Albany has so far not issued a warning for Herkimer County, although Reale has said it is possible.
It is not uncommon for the northern half of Oneida County to be included in a warning while the southern half is not. This is because the northern edges of the county sits atop Tug Hill, which is pounded by lake effect snow. The weather services usually issue separate forecasts for the northern and southern parts of the county when there is lake-like snow.
However, today’s snow is not a lake effect; it is a generalized snowfall from a larger system coming from the south.
Snow is likely across upstate New York today, from an inch or two in western New York to 8 inches in Oneida County. Winter weather advisories – less than 8 inches in 12 hours – are in effect across much of the region.
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