As of late Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service said the Lehigh Valley and Warren County are most likely to see 6 to 8 inches Friday night into Sunday morning.
Projected snowfall totals dipped a bit Thursday afternoon from earlier in the day for the Lehigh Valley's share of a major winter storm set to strike the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday.
This snowfall map issued at 4:22 p.m. EST Jan. 21, 2016, shows the Lehigh Valley and Warren County most likely to see 6 to 8 inches, and a bit more across southern Lehigh and Northampton counties into Hunterdon County, during the winter storm expected late Jan. 22 into early Jan. 24, 2016. (Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com) "I don't consider it a big change," said Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service's Philadelphia region forecast office.
"There's going to be a sharp edge on the northern side of the storm where the snow amounts drop off," he said from the office, in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
As of late Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service put the Pocono Mountains and northwestern New Jersey in the range of 3 to 4 inches, with the Lehigh Valley and Warren County most likely to see 6 to 8 inches and a bit more across southern Lehigh and Northampton counties into Hunterdon County.
"Generally speaking as you go further south, the more snow you get," Szatkowski said.
That's for the entire storm window, Friday through 7 a.m. Sunday.
"Snow is expected to begin late Friday night then continue heavy at times before tapering off into Sunday morning," the weather service said in a winter storm watch updated Thursday afternoon for a region encompassing Lehigh, Northampton, Warren and Hunterdon counties.
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The heavy, wet snow expected may make shoveling difficult, and could lead to power outages by clinging to wires and trees, the watch reads.
"Roads may become impassable due to increasing snow accumulation during the event," according to the watch.
Winds are expected from the northeast at 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph, and temperatures are forecast in the mid- to upper-20s.
Minimum, left, and maximum snowfall projection maps covering eastern Pennsylvania and much of New Jersey show a total potential forecast range across the region, from late Jan. 22 into early Jan. 24, 2016. (Courtesy images | For lehighvalleylive.com) Minimum snowfall projections for the Lehigh Valley -- the amount forecasters see a 90 percent chance of exceeding -- range from nothing at all to a dusting for the Lehigh Valley into Warren County. The maximum potential -- there is only a 10 percent chance of exceeding this -- is 14 to 16 inches for the Lehigh Valley.
To the south, a blizzard warning is in effect for much of Maryland - including the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas -- north to the Pennsylvania border. Northern Delaware, Philadelphia and southern New Jersey are in a blizzard watch.
A major #winterstorm is forecast to bring an 80% chance of a foot or more of #snow to D.C. pic.twitter.com/xmRRabkzUz
-- NWS WPC (@NWSWPC) January 21, 2016
Coastal and back-bay flooding is projected along the Delaware and New Jersey coasts throughout the weekend. Flooding is expected to be worst along southern New Jersey.
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Pennsylvania was among states were officials issued states of emergency ahead of the storm.
Across the region, the snowfall could easily cause more than $1 billion in damage and paralyze the Eastern third of the nation, National Weather Service director Louis Uccellini said, according to The Associated Press.
"It does have the potential to be an extremely dangerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people," Uccellini said at the service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, The AP reports.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.