Northeast's Taste of Winter Tonight

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

October 7, 2012; 4:34PM,EDT

 

 

 

 

 

Temperatures will dip below freezing across parts of the Northeast's interior tonight, while a handful of places will also have an opportunity to see snowflakes fly.
The widespread cold blast AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned about early last week has completed its journey from the Plains to the Northeast.
Once the sun sets on this weekend, temperatures will begin their chilly nosedive to- or below freezing across the Northeast's interior tonight. The same can be said for the Midwest and communities southwestward to northern Oklahoma.
The Northeast's Interstate 95 corridor will also turn chilly tonight, but temperatures will not dip out of the 40s in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Even the northern and western suburbs of these cities should be exempt from frost and freezing temperatures.
A repeat of the widespread hard freeze endured by the northern and central Plains Saturday night is not expected across the Northeast's interior tonight. Freezing temperatures will instead be generally confined to the typically colder countryside and valley locations.
However, many more residents should be concerned about frost killing tender fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Frost could still be covering your lawn Monday morning even if the lowest temperature on your thermometer is a few degrees above freezing tonight.
Communities immediately downwind of the Great Lakes waters and far northern New England may be spared from the frost or freeze by a slight breeze and/or cloud cover.
Patchy fog from central New York to West Virginia would also prevent temperatures in some communities from dropping below freezing, only if temperatures have not done so before the fog develops late tonight.

It is not just freezing temperatures that will give the Northeast's interior a taste of winter tonight. The stage is also set for wet snowflakes to fly in the mountains from northwestern Pennsylvania to northern New England.
According to AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Andy Mussoline, "[The snow] will primarily affect locales at 2,500 feet or higher."
Little, if any, accumulation is expected.
While tonight will not mark the first episode of snow for much of the Northeast, the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Meteorologists expect plenty of opportunities for snow this coming winter, especially for those from the mid-Atlantic to western Massachusetts.