Strong storm hits Upstate NY tonight; soaking rain and wet snow expected

Update: The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for much of the Southern Tier for Thursday and Friday.
Syracuse, N.Y. — A strong storm system will reach parched Upstate New York tonight, bringing a widespread, soaking rain and dropping some wet snow on hilltops over the next few days.
One to three inches of precipitation — the combination of rain and melted snow – is expected to fall through Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain in Upstate is expected in the lower Hudson Valley, which has seen a tiny fraction of normal rainfall since summer and remains under a drought warning.
All of New York state is under a drought watch or warning. While this storm won’t wipe out the big rain deficits in the southeastern part of the state, it will make a significant dent and reduce the threat of wildfires spreading.
There won’t be much cold air with this storm, so lower elevations like the I-90 corridor are likely to see just rain. At elevations over 1,000 feet, wet snow could mix in with the rain, particularly late Thursday into Friday. The Catskills could see 6 inches or more, and most of the the Southern Tier will see less than an inch.
The storm moves in after dark tonight. Syracuse could see three-quarters of an inch of rain by sunrise Thursday, as much as has fallen all month. Rain is expected Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with up to 2 inches of rain falling by the time the storm wraps up on Sunday.
The weather service has issued a winter weather advisory for Delaware and Sullivan counties, where wet snow could cause slippery driving conditions.
“The highest snowfall accumulations will be in the higher elevations, where 4 to 7 inches of snowfall can be expected,“ the advisory said. ”In the valleys, snowfall accumulations will be much lower.”