NEW YORK — Long Island will likely be buried in snow by Saturday. A nor’easter set to blanket the tri-state area and New England over the weekend could drop as much as 36 inches near Islip, according to AccuWeather’s latest predictions Thursday. More likely, though, is a snowfall closer to 12 to 18 inches. Similar snow totals are expected in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford and Groton, Connecticut; Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire; and Portland and Bangor, Maine. “This is going to be an intensifying storm that will produce a lot of wind, which rai…