Another winter storm will move into New York and the U.S. Northeast late today, bringing snow, ice and possibly rain while dumping almost two feet of snow on Chicago, according to forecasters.

A large system covering the U.S. from the Rocky Mountains to the northeastern Atlantic coast will sweep east over the next three days. It probably won’t bring another round of heavy snow to New York and Philadelphia, said Mike Pigott, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

“This is going to be a long-duration storm,” Pigott said. “There will be an extended period Tuesday into Tuesday night of snow, sleet and freezing rain, and the roads could be on the icy side.”

Chicago may receive more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow from the two-part storm, according to National Weather Service forecast maps. A blizzard watch, anticipating winds as intense as 40 miles per hour, has been posted for the area from tomorrow through the day after.

It’s a “dangerous multifaceted and potentially deadly winter storm,” said Gino Izzi, a weather service meteorologist in Romeoville, Illinois. “With this storm we are looking at the possibility of heavy snow, possible thunderstorms with the snow. Snowfall rates could exceed 2 inches per hour Tuesday night.”

A wave of snow will leave as much as 3 inches on the ground in Chicago overnight before the main part of the storm arrives, he said in a briefing posted on the weather service’s website.

The pocket of heavy snow will move east from Chicago through Detroit and southern Ontario before crossing northern New England, according to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Maryland.

Matthew Belk, a weather service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts, said 3 to 6 inches of snow may fall in Boston.

“We’re expecting some snow to arrive pretty late tonight and continue through the day tomorrow when there might be a little bit of a lull Tuesday night,” Belk said.

The storm will pick up again in the Boston area the day after tomorrow, although rain and sleet may mix in, limiting the total snowfall, Belk said.

“For some portions of the Boston metropolitan area, especially north of the city, there is a chance for a foot or more of snow,” Belk said. “Where that foot of snow is going to be, we have yet to figure out.”

New York and much of the Northeast have been hit with heavier-than-normal snowfall since the season began. Since Dec. 1, New York’s Central Park has received 56.1 inches (142.5 centimeters) of snow, the sixth-snowiest season on record, according to weather service data.

The snowiest was 1995-96, when 75.6 inches fell in Central Park, according to the weather service.

Since Jan. 1, 36 inches of snow have fallen in Central Park, 28.2 inches more than normal and a January record, according to the service. The snowiest single month was February 2010 when 36.9 inches fell.

In Chicago, 10.1 inches of snow has fallen since the start of January, just under the normal amount of 11 inches, according to the weather service.

With all the snow on the ground across the Northeast, the storm may create flooding problems if it produces mostly rain, Pigott said.

By the day after tomorrow, the storm may be producing rain throughout New York. Areas north of New York City may receive more snow than rain and ice from the storm, Pigott said. Boston may receive more snow, along with the ski areas of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Winter storm warnings, watches and advisories stretch from Colorado to the New Jersey coast, according to the weather service.

Pigott said the storm is growing out of a collision of arctic air from the north with warm, moist air from the south over the central part of the U.S. By later today, the center of the storm will be in Texas, he said.

The hydrometeorological center forecasts a greater than 90 percent chance that more than 12 inches of snow will fall in the Chicago area through Wednesday.

The center gives a greater than 95 percent chance that at least 4 inches of snow will fall across parts of northern New York state, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine by Feb. 3. There is an 80 to 90 percent chance that at least 8 inches will fall in the same area, according to the center.

Northern Massachusetts has a 70 percent to 80 percent chance for at least 4 inches and a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of 8 inches.

(Source: Bloomberg News)