Municipalities are getting ready to respond with a foot or more of snow coming to the region.
As the end to a relatively quiet winter season draws near, forecasters say a major storm will be problematic for upstaters through Wednesday. Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency starting at 8 o’clock tonight.
Hochul says the Capital Region, Central New York, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley and North Country Regions could see up to 18 inches of snow by Wednesday.
"This will be a dangerous storm," said Hochul. "Please stay off the roads for your own safety, stay in your homes, and also for the safety of these incredible men and women throughout upstate New York who will be giving up their time working around the clock to make sure that the roads are plowed. It is very, very hard to plow the roads when there are people in front of you or cars that insisted on venturing out and ended up in a ditch and had to be rescued. This really affects our ability to respond in real time."
Albany County has also declared a state of emergency, effective at 8 p.m.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan echoed Hochul's concerns. All city buildings will be closed to the public on Tuesday. Sheehan has directed all non-essential city employees to work from home.
"The storm, while it's going to begin late this evening, we're going to probably see the heaviest snow in during the day tomorrow," Sheehan said. "We want to stress that there is a potential for one to two inches of snow to be falling an hour. That is extremely heavy snow. Do not think that you can go out in it, do not think that you can get through it, do not think that you can just run to the store. This is the type of snow that is incredibly dangerous. Our crews do a great job of plowing during a storm. We keep the roadways to the hospitals as open as we can. But when it is snowing at that rate, it is not safe to be out driving period, full stop. So make your plans today, make sure that you've got milk in the fridge, whatever you need at home, but it is not going to be safe. If these projections bear out it is not going to be safe to be out driving tomorrow."
Department of General Services Commissioner Sergio Panunzio says more than 50 pieces of equipment will be deployed starting tonight.
"We have all of our shifts and crews in all personnel is accounted for all vacations and days off have been suspended for the storm," Panunzio said. "We ask people to stay off the streets if you don't have to be in the street. Don't be on the street, it's going to be slippery."
City Hall says the earliest that a snow emergency would begin in Albany would be Wednesday evening. Snow emergencies have been called by the cities of Newburgh, Kingston, Glens Falls and Pittsfield, to name a few. Vehicles may not park on City of Oneonta streets after 2.5 inches of snow has fallen.
Hochul says officials are expecting the heavy, dense snow to cause significant power outages.
Michael DiAcetis with National Grid says if you lose power, report it and don't assume your utility company knows your service is out.
"A couple of safety tips real quick. If you're going to operate an emergency generator, remember to do it outside," DiAcetis said. "We've had some events here in the Capital Region that pass with disastrous results. Also make sure that you open your main breaker so that if you are operating a generator connected to your service panel, it's not back feeding and creating voltage or power that our crews might unnecessarily be aware of."
