High pressure out ahead of a major blizzard has set up shop over the Finger Lakes.
This high pressure will retain its control over our weather for the next few days, even as the Mid-Atlantic gets hammered by what truly may go down as a record breaking blizzard.
The storm is evolving exactly as expected. Currently, low pressure is located over Alabama and will move northeast into Tennessee later today. That low will then “jump” to the coast, where the gradient in temperature between the cold land and warm ocean modified air is greatest.
Feeding off that sharp temperature contrast, the storm will explode as it moves along the coast. But high pressure will stand firm and deflect the storm out to sea before it can come too far north.
Clouds associated with this storm are already pushing into the Finger Lakes Friday morning. This should be the only impact we see from this storm, with mostly cloudy skies continuing through Saturday.
With the cold high pressure over head and cloudy skies, temperatures will struggle to get much past 20 degrees both Friday and Saturday. Overnight lows tonight will not be quite as cold as last night, but most areas will still wind up in the single digits or low teens.
Clouds will start to depart later Saturday as the storm begins to move east. This will leave us with sunnier weather on Sunday. High pressure will start to slide east as well, placing us in the return flow of warmer air on its backside. Temperatures on Sunday will reach near 30 degrees.
The southerly flow will be enhanced by a weak system approaching from the west on Monday and Tuesday. Highs those days will be in the upper 30s and low to mid 40s respectively. A few rain showers will drift through on Tuesday, but widespread heavy precipitation is unlikely.
Some lake snows will be possible on Wednesday, but the end of next week is looking tranquil and pleasant.
My thoughts and prayers are with those in the Mid-Atlantic during this blizzard.
