Cold, rainy weekend for the Finger Lakes

Temperatures will turn very chilly for early May in the Finger Lakes as periods of rain persist through the weekend.

Rainy Weekend…and Beyond

A large area of rain is in place over the Finger Lakes Friday morning as a slow moving storm system approaches from the south.

This rain will continue steadily through the morning before tapering to scattered showers by the mid to late afternoon hours.

The rain may mostly end for a brief time early this evening before more showers and a few rumbles of thunder develop over the western Finger Lakes as cold air starts to build in from the west.

Scattered showers will persist across the entire region overnight and into Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon, the showers will be a bit more widespread with precipitation continuing into Saturday night.

During the overnight Saturday, rain will mix with or turn to snow, especially over western areas and higher elevations. Some areas could see a coating.

Rain and snow showers will continue into Sunday and even Monday as this storm system very slowly meanders to the northeast. A few showers may even linger into the middle of next week.

Temperatures Approach Record Cold

As this storm system moves to the north, some very cold air will wrap around it and into the Finger Lakes.

Before that happens, temperatures will hover mostly in the 50s on Friday and into Friday evening. Cold air will start to work in from the west as a slow moving, but sharp cold front.

This front will develop over the central Finger Lakes Friday night and should be near Cayuga Lake Saturday morning. The front will be so well defined, that as few as 10-20 miles may separate temperatures in the mid 40s and mid 50s.

By the middle of Saturday afternoon, the front should be east of I-81, resulting in low and mid 40s across the Finger Lakes.

Cold air will continue to seep in, with temperatures falling to near 40 degrees Saturday night and hardly rising at all during the day Sunday.

Sunday will be cold enough that record cold maximum temperatures may be set. Records in Geneva and Ithaca are 44 and 43 degrees respectively, set in 1970. There is a chance new records will be set as the temperature may not even rise that high.

Monday will be even cooler by a couple of degrees with some areas possibly not even reaching 40 degrees.

Frost is likely across the region Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning as cold air remains in place. Afternoon temperatures will not return to the low 50s until Wednesday.