These Areas Are Most At Risk For Power Outages From Storm Bringing Damaging Wind Gusts

The storm will arrive in this region on Thursday, Feb. 17 and continue into early Friday morning, Feb. 18.

The most powerful wind gusts, which could be around 60 miles per hour, will be mainly near the coast, the National Weather Service said in a Hazardous Weather Outlook statement issued Wednesday morning, Feb. 16.

"Confidence is increasing in the potential of wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph Thursday night into Friday morning as a strong frontal system tracks through the area.," the statement said. 

Areas where 40 to 60 mph wind gusts could cause power outages are shown in purple in the first image above.

For areas expected to see thunderstorms (green), heavy downpours (dark green), a mix of rain and sleet (pink) and snow (blue), click on the second image above.

The system will dump as much as a half-foot of snowfall to parts of upstate New York and northern New England. (Click on the third image above for projected totals.)

Temperatures will begin to rise on Wednesday which will be partly sunny with the high in the low 40s, but wind gusts of around 10 to 20 mph will make it feel colder.

Thursday will be mostly cloudy during the day with the high temperature climbing into the mid 50s, with the potential for some spots in the area to record record highs near the 60-degree mark, according to AccuWeather.com.

The storm system is now due to arrive late Thursday evening. Rain could be heavy at times with scattered thunderstorms through the overnight hours as the powerful wind gusts whip through the region.

New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch of rain are possible before the storm winds down by mid-morning on Friday, the National Weather Service said.

Skies will gradually clear Friday, and the temperature will drop during the afternoon from a high in the mid to upper 40s to the mid 30s just before nightfall.

Saturday, Feb. 19 will be mostly sunny and breezy with a high temperature around 40 degrees.

Check back to Daily Voice for updates.

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