Solar eclipse tourists to the Adirondacks could find heavy snow on the ground

Syracuse, N.Y. -- An early spring snowstorm is dropping heavy, wet snow through Friday in the Adirondacks, where up to 170,000 people could travel to see the total solar eclipse on Monday.

Eight to 10 inches of snow have already fallen in some parts of the Adirondacks, with several more inches possible today and Friday. That’s on top of about 4 feet of snowpack already on the ground at higher elevations.

The storm is expected to end by Saturday morning, and high pressure should bring mostly clear skies and temperatures above freezing by Sunday. Anyone hoping to hike a mountain trail for a better view of the eclipse might run into heavy snow, ice and slush, and streams swollen with melted snow, said the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“The new snow and warming temperatures will make trail conditions extremely dangerous for backcountry travel,” DEC said. “Quickly melting snow will create hazardous conditions, muddy trails, and cause stream crossings to be impassable and dangerous.”

Temperatures will reach only into the upper 30s and maybe low 40s over the weekend, so much of the snow is likely to be on the ground Monday afternoon.

Hiking trails might be slippery and snowy, but roads should be clear, said Abbey Gant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany, which issues forecasts for much of the Adirondacks.

“There shouldn’t be any significant accumulations on roads,” she said. “With snow melting, they’ll be wet, but they shouldn’t be treacherous in any way, shape or form.”

That’s good news for the tens of thousands of people expected to drive into the Adirondack Park this weekend and Monday. The eclipse occurs from about 2:10 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

State troopers have urged eclipse watchers and residents in the Adirondacks and North Country to prepare for it to take as long as 4 to 12 hours to get out of the region.

The forecast for Monday afternoon calls for mostly clear skies in the Adirondacks, with just a few high clouds during the eclipse, Gant said. The weather service predicts that 15% to 30% of the sky will be covered Monday afternoon, but any clouds will be thin clouds high in the atmosphere.

“There should be some high clouds, but the percentage of cloud coverage is going to be fairly low,” Gant said. “We don’t expect them to expect them to be very thick.”