Expect Extremely Chilly Weather and Potential for Big Snow in New York This Week

A brief weather warm up will be in New York, but it's not expected to last very long.

Nearly 50-degree weather is heading our way, starting with temperatures in the low 40s today, December 16.

The good news is, the National Weather Service says the warmer weather will stick around until Wednesday. Tuesday will be the "hottest" day of the week.

The NWS says the day's high will be around 47 in the Utica and Syracuse area, while North Country like Lowville and Boonville will see temperatures hovering around 45 degrees on Tuesday, the 18th.

The warmer-than-average weather will stick around until Wednesday night before a cold shot of arctic air from Canada will sweep across New York.

Temperatures will really start to plummet come Friday, but forecasters say the weekend will be particularly challenging.

The Weather Channel says the mercury around the Utica area will only hit 13 degrees on Sunday while North Country could see temperatures in the single digits. Wind chills could make it feel even colder outside.

Early predictions say wind chills could be up to 40 degrees below zero, which would mark the first time in roughly half a decade wind chills have been that low in CNY.

Forecasters also say we could see our first negative temperatures on Sunday night. Utica could see the mercury hit -1 while North Country could reach as low as -5.  Wind chills may also present a challenge.

Read More: How to Stay Safe and Warm in Extreme Cold Weather

The colder air could translate to even more snow across the region, but so far there are no alerts for possible lake effect snow.

Max Velocity, who runs the popular Severe Weather Channel on YouTube, says the weather is going to get "interesting" in the days leading up to Christmas.

Long-range models are calling for two separate cold blasts and indicate a snow making event could cross into New York and the Great Lakes area around Thursday.

The current long-range models indicate the potential for a "significant snow event as we go into Friday," he said.

Velocity noted that the weather has been changing rapidly in recent days, so it's still too early to provide accurate snowfall totals.

Accuweather also weighed in on the potential for snow and "a bigger storm" during the weekend.

AccuWeather's Chief Video Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said the area will see "a true shot of arctic air coming in" and that could help the storm produce "several inches of snow."

Rayno noted the possible weekend storm is "the one to watch" because it has the potential to be severe.

Again, exact snowfall amounts could not be provided due to how far out the system is.

Rayno said the European weather model is currently calling for a dusting to several inches while the GFS model predicts portions of New York could see between 7 to 9 inches of snow.

Both Rayno and Velocity also tackled the rumors that a major blizzard will impact the country on Christmas.

The forecasters said they have found no evidence in the models that suggest treacherous winter weather around the holidays.  Both also said it is still way too far out to predict anything with confidence.

Wednesday will mark a week from Christmas Day, which means the picture of what kind of weather we'll get will be a little clearer.

Expect an update once confidence grows in the Christmas forecast.

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