Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- New York City may get as much as 7 inches of snow tomorrow and icy winds may reach 25 miles per hour the next day as the Giants host the Philadelphia Eagles in a National Football League playoff game.

“This is going to be the biggest storm of the winter season so far,” said Eric Wilhelm, a senior meteorologist with private forecaster AccuWeather.com.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for the area beginning tomorrow. The snow will begin in the morning, and the wind is expected to pick up the next day, said Paul Walker, another senior AccuWeather.com meteorologist in State College, Pennsylvania. Temperatures may peak at 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 1.1 Celsius) tomorrow.

The Hudson Valley and Connecticut may get 8 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service in Upton, New York. Depending on the storm’s path, snowfall amounts in New York City may be less than forecast because some of the precipitation will fall as freezing rain, the bulletin said.

The weather service is still watching the track of the storm and for now the “probability is that it is all snow,” said the NWS’s John Cristantello in Upton.

Snow was falling today in Chicago as the fast-moving weather system headed for New York, Walker said in a telephone interview. Chicago may receive 6 inches with 2 inches more possible in some northern suburbs, Wilhelm said.

‘Going Downhill’

“Things are going downhill as we speak,” Wilhelm said.

The snow caused delays of about 3 hours for some flights arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and 30-minute delays at Midway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site.

Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, also are forecast to receive as much as 6 inches of snow with some areas of northern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts getting 10 inches, Wilhelm said. The ski areas of New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont will probably see very little accumulation from this storm, he said.

Tomorrow’s precipitation will be followed by cold air and winds that may reach 25 mph (40 kph) the next day, when the New York Giants host the Eagles at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Cold for Kickoff

Temperatures will be in the 20s when the game starts at 1 p.m. local time, said Tom Kines, another meteorologist for AccuWeather.com. The wind will make temperatures feel like 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.

“It won’t blow you out of the stands, but you will definitely notice it,” Kines said.

Temperatures should be about 23 degrees in Pittsburgh, when the Steelers host the San Diego Chargers at 4:45 p.m. at Heinz Field in the day’s other playoff game.

“It’s not going to be as windy in Pittsburgh, but there could be some snowflakes flying around,” Wilhelm said. “San Diego isn’t going to be used to this weather.”

This weekend’s storm will be followed by another that is forecast to move across the U.S. early next week. That system will drag a pocket of frigid air into the Great Lakes, upper Midwest and across the Northeast, sending temperatures plunging.

“All of this is coming from Alaska; Fairbanks has been minus-40 for days and days on end,” Wilhelm said. “All of that has been sitting there building, and it is finally going to get the green light to come south.”

Wilhelm said by the middle of next week, Chicago will have temperatures in the single digits and New York won’t get higher than the teens.

“This is the coldest air mass of the season so far,” Wilhelm said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 9, 2009 11:21 EST