New York, Get Ready to Wake Up to Snow-Covered City Saturday

(Bloomberg) -- New York City could wake up Saturday to falling snow piling up on lawns and sidewalks -- yet another storm in the winter that just won't quit.

Friday could start with a little rain and snow but there won't be any accumulation as temperatures will rise to about 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 Celsius) in Central Park, the National Weather Service said.

Late Friday, rain will change to snow overnight, with 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 centimeters) possible by Saturday. Most of the accumulation will pile up on grass, but will have trouble sticking to pavement.

“It's ridiculous. It isn't going to stop,” said Rob Carolan, owner of Hometown Forecast Services Inc. in Nashua, New Hampshire. “There is no sustained warmth east of the Rocky Mountains.”

The storm could also coat Washington's cherry blossoms with snow Saturday. It would be the latest accumulation there since 1924. Thursday started with freeze warnings and frost advisories stretching from Missouri and Arkansas to Georgia, the weather service said.

Carolan said temperatures are below zero Fahrenheit across much of Canada, and into the single digits and teens across the upper Great Plains and Midwest. At 7 a.m. New York time, it was 15 degrees in Fargo; 18 in Duluth and 24 in Chicago, according to the weather service.

On the West Coast, a warm river of tropical air and rain could bring problems, Carolan said. Heavy rains are forecast to fall across California, melting snows and possibly bringing mudslides to areas burned in wildfires north of San Francisco last October.

Flood advisories and warnings stretch from California north to Washington through late Friday into Saturday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Will Wade, Margot Habiby

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