A mix of rain and snow was falling in the mid-Atlantic, with more snow farther inland. Cherry Grove, West Virginia, on the edge of the Monongahela National Forest, got 10 centimeters of snow overnight, according to the National Weather Service.
Communities inland are expected to get hit hardest by the storm. The heaviest snow was forecast for the Massachusetts Berkshires, the Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut, southwestern New Hampshire and the southern Green Mountains.
The heavy, wet snow combined with fully leafed trees could lead to downed tree branches and power lines, resulting in numerous power outages, officials said.
Relatively warm water temperatures along the Atlantic seaboard could keep the snowfall totals much lower along the coast and in cities such as Boston, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said, with 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters of snowfall forecast.
October snowfall records could be broken in parts of southern New England, especially at higher elevations, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said. The October record for southern New England is 19.05 centimeters in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1979.
More than 15 centimeters of snow could accumulate in parts of Maine on Saturday. Parts of southern Vermont could receive more than 30 centimeters of wet snow Saturday into Sunday.
In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned residents that they could lose power due to the anticipated wet, heavy snow.
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia was expected to get 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters, its first measurable October snow since 1979 — with 5 to 10 centimeters in some suburbs, meteorologist Mitchell Gaines said. Allentown is expected to see 10 to 20 centimeters, likely to break the city’s October record of 5.6 centimeters on Oct. 31, 1925.
“This is very, very unusual,” said John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College, Pennsylvania, where heavy snow was falling Saturday morning.
LaCorte said the last major widespread snowstorm to hit Pennsylvania this early was in 1972.
“It’s going to be very dangerous,” he added.
Rain and snow are expected to fall most of the day Saturday in New York City, with just snow falling overnight. Forecasters predict 5 to 10 centimeters will accumulate.
October snowfall is rare in New York; there have been just three October days with measurable snowfall in Central Park in the last 135 years when record-keeping began, according to the National Weather Service. The largest on record was in 1925 when eight-tenths of 2 centimeters fell in Central Park.
In New England, the first measurable snow usually falls in early December, and normal highs for late October are in the mid-50s.
Not everyone was lamenting the unofficial arrival of winter.
Two Vermont ski resorts, Killington and Mount Snow, planned to start the ski season early by opening one trail each over the weekend, thanks to the recent snow and cold.