High pressure will bring a dry heat to the Finger Lakes this weekend.
Temperatures are cool to start Friday, but will quickly warm under clear, sunny skies this morning. Temperatures should be well into the 70s by midday, with highs topping out mostly in the low 80s. Only a couple of fair weather clouds will develop this afternoon, with light winds and no chance for precipitation.
The New York State Departmental of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) has rated the fire danger for all of New York State as moderate today.
That fire danger will persist through the weekend as temperatures continue to climb. Morning lows in the 50s Saturday will turn into highs in the mid and upper 80s during the afternoon. Sunday will be even hotter, with quite a few places reaching or exceeding 90 degrees.
Despite the heat, the dew point will remain very low in the 40s and 50s. This will result in relative humidity levels below 35% and as low as 20%. Relative humidity levels this low act to dry out vegetation and can enhance the fire risk. Thankfully, winds will be very light Friday and Saturday, which would help keep any small fires from spreading quickly. Winds Sunday may gust to 25 mph.
No precipitation is expected on either Saturday or Sunday, though some extra cloud cover will move in during the afternoon on Sunday. There will be a chance for some rain Monday and Tuesday, but generally speaking, this rain will do little to help with the near-drought conditions. A few localized areas could see some decent amounts of rain, but most areas will not. The best chance for rain at this point seems to be across the eastern Finger Lakes.
Temperatures will return to the 70s for most of next week, but still no significant rain is in sight.
