FILE PHOTO: A winter storm watch has been issued in Connecticut with 5 to 12 inches of snow possible in Fairfield, Litchfield, Hartford, New Haven and Windham counties.
Patrick Sikes/For Hearst Connecticut MediaA powerful nor'easter is expected to bring heavy snow and drenching rain to Connecticut starting Monday night, the National Weather Service said.
The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for northern Litchfield County and a winter storm watch for "heavy snow" and accumulations of 4 to 12 inches in parts of Fairfield, Litchfield, Hartford, New Haven, Tolland and Windham counties.
The storm is expected to begin around 2 p.m. Monday, though it isn’t expected to intensify until around 7 p.m., the weather service said.
The storm was expected to bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions across portions of the Upper Midwest on Sunday, the weather service said. The storm is expected to reach the Mid-Atlantic coast by Monday night when it will rapidly strengthen from a coastal low pressure system, the weather service said.
"Heavy snow rates (up to 2 inches per hour possible) and strong winds from this nor'easter will likely produce dangerous to near impossible travel," the weather service said. "The heavy-wet nature of the snow could result in scattered to widespread power outages and tree damage. Confidence is
increasing that some interior, higher elevation areas across the interior Northeast will receive greater than 12 inches of snow."
The weather service said the storm could produce even higher snowfall amounts for portions of the Catskills in New York, Berkshires in western Massachusetts, and southern Green Mountains in Vermont. Forecasters anticipate as much as 18 inches of snow in northern Litchfield County.
According to the forecasts, the total snowfall will vary widely depending on the temperatures. Southern Connecticut and along the coast may see only 1 to 3 inches of snow with higher amounts expected farther inland, according to the weather service. In northern Hartford County, up to a foot of snow is possible, the weather service said.
"Snowfall and impacts will likely vary greatly with elevation," the weather service said.
The weather service said "moderate to locally heavy precipitation" is expected Monday into Tuesday. Coastal areas of Connecticut could see as much as 1.5 inches of rainfall by Tuesday morning, the weather service said.
"There remains a considerable amount of uncertainty as to how the transition to snowfall occurs of the northwestern fringe of the cyclone," the weather service said.
As the precipitation tapers off on Tuesday, winds will pick up with gusts of 30 to 40 mph, the weather service said. Some areas along the shoreline could see gusts up to 50 mph by Tuesday afternoon, the weather service said.