AccuWeather.com

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Oct 27, 2011; 6:33 PM ET

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Snow falling just outside Albany, N.Y., Thursday. Video courtesy of @albwxexaminer (Twitter) / brentsuny07 (YouTube).

The first of what may be two wet snow events for parts of the Northeast has taken shape today.

Even though mild conditions prevailed through the middle of the week in the region, an invasion of colder air and storm systems is causing a repeat of Denver's winter wonderland in the Northeast.

As discussed on Monday, while rain will fall with today's storm through its entirety from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, snow will fall and can accumulate in other inland cities and rural areas.

Cities picking up snow into tonight include Bradford, Mansfield, Mount Pocono and Scranton, Pa.; Albany, Binghamton and Elmira, N.Y.; Rutland and Brattleboro, Vt.; Manchester, N.H.; Pittsfield and Worcester, Mass.; Torrington and Hartford, Conn.; and Portland, Maine.

This map does not show the accumulation on road surfaces, which will be much less. However, it only takes a bit of slush to make for slippery travel.

The changeover to wet snow has already taken place from northern and western Pennsylvania to part of Upstate New York, central New England and will eventually take place in coastal Maine.

People in these areas, smaller towns and rural locations in the region should expect some snow on the grass, trees, car tops and even some slushy areas on roads and sidewalks.

While an excessive amount of snow is not expected to fall with this first event, it can be enough to weigh down branches and make for slippery travel in the higher elevations. This zone includes the higher elevations along interstates 80, 81, 88, 89 and 90, as well as the more vast and expansive secondary roads.

It is possible that in some wooded areas or tree-lined streets, some power outages occur and branches block roadways even with the few inches of snow expected.

The ground remains saturated and many trees still have leaves on them and/or are water-logged from the excessive rainfall in recent months. In short, many trees are top heavy.

Also, we wish to remind you there can be enough rain in southern New England and the northern mid-Atlantic to cause street flooding. The normal runoff into storm drains will be compromised by fallen leaves in some locations.