NY braces for cold snap as severe winter storm moves across US

The Big Apple is bracing for a windy cold spell this weekend, as brutal winter storms move across the US and blast large swaths of the country with heavy snow and ice, forecasters said.

New York will face a cold snap Friday night into Saturday morning with gusty winds and temperatures in the 20s, Fox Weather meteorologist Christopher Tate told The Post.

But Gotham will likely be spared the brunt of the severe storm, which has put more than 40 million people across 22 states under winter weather alerts Tuesday.

“It’ll probably just be a rain event for us,” Tate said of the storm, which developed from a low-pressure system in the Rocky Mountains.

While the storm will arrive in the New York area with rain Wednesday, temperatures will remain above average. 

“[New York will] dip into the 40s on Wednesday, and Thursday into Friday it will warm back up into the 50s,” Tate said.

As the storm walloped the West Coast with rain and powerful winds on Tuesday, at least 48 million Americans were under severe weather warnings, Tate said.

More than 40 record-low temperatures are expected across the Northwest before the end of the week, a high of 11 degrees on Tuesday.

“It’s a big thing for the Southwest and the Plains,” Tate said.

Minneapolis could see record-breaking snowfall. Forecasts suggest that snowfall in the city could crack 17 inches, thereby entering the top-five single snowfalls in the city’s recorded history, Tate said.

Tate warned that travel plans around the Rockies and connecting out of Minneapolis could be disrupted by the conditions.

“The biggest impact with [travel] is ice [in] Milwaukee through Detroit and the wind in eastern South Dakota, Minnesota, parts of Wisconsin, and Iowa.” he said.

On Monday, Southwest and Delta Airlines issued travel waivers for passengers shuttling through Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport during the storm, CBS reported,

“That gives you an idea of the impacts [the airlines] are expecting,” Tate said of the decision.