Dry in the Finger Lakes: When will it rain?

Most of the Finger Lakes has only gotten around 50% of the normal amount of rain during the last 30 days.

Unfortunately, it does not look like the dry weather pattern will break any time soon.

The darker shades of orange on the map above show areas that have seen less than half the normal amount of rain since mid-May. Areas in red, mostly around Buffalo, have seen less than a quarter of the normal rain.

There are a few places that are showing up as above normal, but most of the rain in those areas came in one shot from heavy thunderstorms a couple of weeks back.

Wednesday will be another sunny, dry day across the Finger Lakes. Temperatures will continue to trend upward, with highs generally near 80 degrees. A front will approach the area tonight into Thursday, but will likely stop short, keeping the Finger Lakes out of the stream of rain and thunderstorms that will fire along the front.

A few showers and maybe a thunder storm will be possible from this evening into Thursday morning, and again Thursday evening into Friday morning. The best chance for rain will be further south and west, but even these areas will likely not see anything substantial.

More dry weather will move in for the weekend. While it will be nice to have a full weekend of sun and warm temperatures for once, it will do nothing for out soil moisture. Highs on Saturday will be in the upper 70s, with low 80s on Sunday. Monday will turn hot with highs pushing 90 degrees, but still no rain.

The next chance for rain will wait until Tuesday, when a cold front breaks the heat. The timing of the front will have a big influence on how much rain moves through, as thunderstorms will be more likely if the front moves through during the daytime hours.

While I did not make an official summer season forecast, I have heard a number of other forecasters calling for a hot, dry summer. Time will tell if that comes true, but we are already off to a fast start towards drought concerns.