Storm Ready to Wallop Suffolk With 12-18 Inches of Snow

If you brushed off Monday morning's warning of an approaching snowstorm as a bit too early to get those shovels ready, the update isn't pretty: the snow is definitely coming and there will be a lot of it. 

With snow still piled up in areas from the powerful blizzard two weeks ago, Long Island is set to get socked with another white punch as the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning beginning at 7 p.m. tonight through 6 p.m. Wednesday.  

Weather service officials said Northwest Suffolk County could get blasted with between 12 and 18 inches of snow, along with winds gusting up to 35 mph. Those snowfall total predictions are on the rise as earlier forecasts called for up to a foot.

"There is going to be some heavy, heavy bands of snow," said Marcie Katcher, a spokeswoman at the weather service's Bohemia office.

Snowfall is expected to be the heaviest late Tuesday night into early Wednesday, Katcher said.

The storm, which approaching the area after dumping snow and ice as far south as Florida, will not come close to rivaling the Dec. 26 blizzard, Katcher said, but she still advised residents to "take all precautions necessary to insure that you are safe during that type of weather."