STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Making St. Patrick’s Day weekend plans? Best take note of the inbound wet weather.
AccuWeather is monitoring what it suspects could be the largest severe weather event of 2025 so far. An over 500,000 square mile area spanning across the central and southern U.S. is forecast to see an impact from intense weather, including thunderstorms and heavy winds, over the coming days. Some of these cities could even experience tornadoes, according to an AccuWeather report.
Fortunately, for New York residents, the brunt of this storm front will remain focused on those central and southern states. However, thunderstorms could end up finding themselves in western New York as early as Saturday, according to AccuWeather.
Storms could then impact New York City on Sunday.
In laying out the course of this inclement weather, Paul Pastelok, a senior meteorologist and lead long range forecaster for AccuWeather, shared his outlook.
“It’s going to be one of these fronts that pulses,” Pastelok said. “So there’s going to be a flareup in the Plains, later Friday, Friday night, Mississippi Valley, and then it’s going to quiet down a little bit. And then it’s going to pulse again Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, in the Tennessee Valley and also the central Gulf states, as a new low forms along this front. They’re going to have some really nasty severe weather and tornadoes down across that area.”
That same wave is expected to push further north later Sunday into Sunday night. At that time, Pastelok believes the rain could “enhance” along the I-95 corridor and residents could see some “significant rainfall,” including in New York City.
An AccuWeather graphic shows drenching rainfall forecast to hit the eastern U.S., including New York, from Saturday, March 15, through Sunday, March 16, 2025.(Courtesy of AccuWeather)
“There could be some flooding on streets and ponding on roadways because of the intense rainfall,” added Pastelok. “As far as the actual severe weather, the worst I can see is maybe some small hail and some gusty winds.”
As of Wednesday morning, Pastelok believes southwest wind gusts on Sunday could reach over 40 mph. Once the front passes by, blustery winds could linger, however, they will be weaker than those initial winds at the onset of the storm.
While Pastelok believes it is generally too mild for any snow to come down, he noted that rain could turn over to snow in the Adirondacks sometime Monday morning.
