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The snow expected to hit southwestern Connecticut tonight should arrive shortly but it might not make much of an entrance after all.

“It should be pretty much on the light side,” said Bill Jacquemin, a meteorologist with the Connecticut Weather Center. “There’s nothing that’s going to be of blizzard proportions or anything like that.”

As of about 5 p.m., the nor’easter still sat “parked off the coast” pulling moisture from southern New England – “that’s why we’re getting the snow,” Jacquemin said.

As dusk sets in and the storm approaches there should be steady snowfall overnight with periods of moderate snowfall, he said.

A National Weather Service winter weather advisory remains in effect for southwest Connecticut until noon Friday.

A coastal flood advisory remains in effect until 10 a.m. Friday and warns of minor flooding during high tide Thursday evening and Friday morning, though the majority of roads should remain passable.

Jacquemin put the rate of snowfall at about a half an inch per hour. The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement Thursday afternoon forecasting a rate of about an inch of snow per hour.

“Everything will get white and slippery pretty quickly,” Jacquemin said.

Either way, the total snowfall expected is about 3 to 6 inches for southwestern Connecticut when all is said and done Friday.

Winds along the coast are expected to reach speeds of about 14 to 17 mph overnight with gusts as high as 28 mph, according NWS.

Those will stick around Friday, though the snow is expected to taper off to showers over the course of the day.

The higher gusts could fell some trees and utility poles causing power outages, NWS warns, though as of 5 p.m. Thursday only five Connecticut Light and Power customers were in the dark as well as one United Illuminating customer.

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Schools are beginning to call off afternoon and evening events as a massive weather front finally makes its way to the region.

Shelton Public Schools: All after-school activities and programs are canceled

Stamford Public Schools: All after school activities and evening events are canceled

St. Thomas Aquinas Church/School: No evening religious education classes Thursday

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Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch has declared a snow emergency beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Cars parked on designated snow emergency streets should be removed or risk being towed. Click here for a list of the city’s designated snow emergency streets.

For all other streets, alternate side of the street parking is in effect. Wednesday is March 6 (an even-numbered day), which means you should park your car on the “even” side of the street, where the addresses are even numbers.

More info on the snow emergency is here.

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Here comes the “lion” part of March.

This time, the wind is going to be more of a hazard than snow, forecasters say.

The approaching winter storm is likely to drop between 2 and 6 inches of heavy, wet snow across the area, WTNH meteorologist Sam Kantrow said. “You should take these figures with a grain of salt though, because they are very dependent on elevation,” he said. “You can be in the southern part of the state and if you are at a higher elevation, you’ll see more snow.”

Wind gusts of 50 miles per hour or more are likely to cause numerous power outages, officials said. The massive storm will reach our area this afternoon, with snow and sleet falling during the evening rush hour.

The storm is expected to be the most severe in the southeastern corner of the state, with 6 to 10 inches of snow possible in the New London area, according to the National Weather Service. Bridgeport and Danbury could see between 3 and 7 inches of snow, the noon NWS forecast said.

But it won’t clear out until midday Friday, after at least two high tide cycles that could bring coastal flooding. Strong winds could cause costal flooding, and tides are expected to be about 3.5 feet above normal, the NWS said. A winter weather advisory, a wind advisory and a coastal flood warning for southern Fairfield and New Haven counties will remain in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday.

United Illuminating Co., which serves most of lower Fairfield and New Haven counties, advises customers to prepare for the storm by stocking up on batteries, candles and bottled water. Once the winds die down, crews will focus first on restoring power to affected public safety facilities and then to efforts that will restore power to the largest number of customers.

“These winds could bring down tree branches and limbs as well as damage power lines, especially combined with any accumulating wet snow,” the NWS said in a Wednesday morning bulletin. “Driving will be difficult, especially on elevated roadways and bridges.”

The current storm is part of a system that started in Montana, hit the Dakotas and Minnesota on Monday and then barreled through Wisconsin and Illinois on its way to Washington.

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A storm brewing in the Mid Atlantic could make things interesting here in a few days.

A lot can happen before Wednesday and Thursday, when the storm is expect to hit, but there’s apparently enough concern about the storm that the National Weather Service issued a briefing Monday afternoon.

Projection models show two scenarios unfolding. Either the storm will move off the Mid Atlantic coast and blow out to sea, or it will move off the coast and then turn toward New York and Connecticut.

If the latter happens, things could get bad. According to the NWS, potential impacts include heavy wet snow, moderate coastal flooding and high winds that could cause scattered outages.

Quincy Vagell, a meteorologist for WTNH, tweeted the storm could bring up to 16 inches of snow to Southwestern Connecticut and even more to the northeastern part of the state.

Again, a lot can change between now and then. We’ll keep you posted.

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The next few days should be nice ones in southwestern Connecticut but there may be another round of stormy weather on their heels.

Though Saturday’s high temperature of 44 degrees could be soured by snow and rain – the National Weather Service forecasts a 30 percent chance of precipitation – the skies over the area should be clear Sunday through Tuesday.

But soon after there could be another storm passing through to quell hopes of an early spring.

A hazardous weather outlook issued Friday by NWS warns that by Wednesday or Thursday a storm currently over the north Pacific Ocean could bring heavy precipitation and strong winds to the east coast.

With the storm still five or six days away, forecasts are not too detailed and NWS has not yet made a call on just how much snow to expect in southwestern Connecticut.

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Southwestern Connecticut could see some flooding about midday Wednesday but it should be relatively minor.

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory late Tuesday for areas along western Long Island Sound, including southern Fairfield and New Haven counties.

The advisory, which will go into effect Wednesday at 11 a.m. and last until 2 p.m., warns that tides may rise two to three feet higher than normal as a storm passes through the area.

The chance of precipitation is set at 90 percent and winds between 16 to 21 mph with gusts as high as 31 mph are expected in Bridgeport.

The most vulnerable shore roads and basements will be at risk of flooding due to the height of the storm tide as well as wave splash-over due in part to breaking waves of two to four feet, according to the advisory.

Most roads will be passable though there is a chance of isolated closures. Any impact on property is expected to be minimal, according to the advisory.

High tide will occur in Bridgeport, Stamford and New Haven between 12:05 and 12:10 p.m. The flood category for all three cities is listed as minor.

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The blizzard of 2013 will go down as one of Connecticut’s historic snowstorms.

And people were ready with their smart phones and video cameras to catch the action during and after the storm.

Here’s a collection of YouTube videos shot by people across southwestern Connecticut during and after the blizzard.