A strengthening area of low pressure tracking up the Mississippi River will bring windy, wet weather to the Finger Lakes on Wednesday and Wednesday night.
Rain has already spread into the Finger Lakes from this storm system, and should continue steadily through much of the morning. The rain is moving from south to north. Across the eastern Ohio River Valley, the rain is more showery, with breaks between bouts of rain instead of a steady soaking. This will move into the Finger Lakes for the afternoon hours.
The bigger story today will be the wind. The strengthening low pressure system to our west and a strong high pressure just off the coast of New England are setting up a strong gradient in atmospheric pressure. This, in turn, will resulting in a strengthening wind through the morning, with peak winds this afternoon and early evening.
Most places should see top wind gusts of 45 to 50 mph. However, some of the higher elevations, especially in southern Cayuga County, could see gusts as high as 60 mph. Wind advisories in are in place for about half of the Finger Lakes Weather area. The winds will lessen somewhat this evening, but the wind threat will not be totally over.
Temperatures this evening will actually rise from afternoon highs in the 50s into the low and mid 60s. This may be enough to trigger a broken line of thunderstorms after 10 pm tonight. If this line does develop, some of the storms could tap into the high winds above the surface to produce strong or even severe wind gusts.
The weather will settle down a bit after the thunderstorms move through, but some showers will likely linger into Thursday morning and early afternoon. The wind will kick up again Thursday, with some gusts to 40mph.
Friday looks mostly quiet, but cooler, with highs in the 40s. Saturday likewise looks cloudy, but rain free. Highs on Saturday should be near 50 degrees, with Trick-or-Treat temperatures in the 40s.
