‘Stay off the roads’: When will the snowstorm start?

Most of northern New England will not see any snow from this nor’easter as it moves east on Tuesday.

Want to text with our weather team? Sign up here.

A powerful nor’easter headed toward New England overnight Monday is expected to cause major travel disruptions, school closures and widespread power outages at the very least.

Southern New England could see anywhere from 8 inches to a foot of snow by the time the storm ends Tuesday evening. Southern New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine are forecast to see much less, about a coating to 4 inches.

With strong, gusty winds and snowfall accelerating at a rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour, the storm will cause poor visibility and treacherous driving conditions beginning early Tuesday.

Here’s the timeline of the storm:

• 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. – Light snow to start in New England, first across Connecticut. The Cape will see rain.

• 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. – Precipitation to start in Boston area, first possibly as rain and then quickly changes over to snow.

• 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Storm ramps up in intensity, with snow falling at a rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour.

• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Heaviest snowfall occurs.

• After 2 p.m. – Storm begins winding down

• 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. – Storm “completely shuts off,” according to Epstein.

“This is not going to be a long-lasting storm. This is a very quick-hitting storm — it’s in and it’s out,” he said.

Forecasters say Southern New England could see snowfall rates of about 2 inches per hour around 1 p.m. Tuesday.

“If this verifies, some of you could see it snow as hard as you have ever seen it,” Epstein said. “Since it will be daylight, it will be pretty awesome to observe the power of nature. (It will be) fast moving, so it is done by about 6 p.m.”

But Epstein warned that road conditions will deteriorate rapidly due to this powerful storm.

“People should stay off the roads during the height of the storm…it’s going to be incredibly intense,” Epstein said. “People should not be on the roads.”

Expected snowfall accumulation

• 8 to 14 inches — Boston area and south of the Mass Pike, and most of Rhode Island and Connecticut.

• 4 to 8 inches — North of the Mass Pike and western Massachusetts.

• 2 to 8 inches — Along the coast and on the Cape.

• 2 to 4 inches — Southern Maine

• Coating to 2 inches — New Hampshire and Vermont.

The probability of New England receiving 8 inches or more of snow: