Snow makes brief appearance for some early Thursday

A brief period of snow accumulation is possible Wednesday night and early Thursday, mostly for the Southern Tier and Central New York.

First Accumulating Snow

A storm system will approach the Finger Lakes region from the southwest Wednesday night. High pressure to the northeast and the onset of precipitation during the night will help lock enough cold air in place for some of the precipitation to start as snow.

Precipitation will start to overspread the region from southwest to northeast this evening. Some of the precipitation this evening may not reach the ground, but by midnight, steady precipitation will be moving in. Rain will mix with or change to snow for a few hours at any given location before warmer air works in and changes the precipitation back to all rain.

By sunrise Thursday morning, most of the Finger Lakes should be seeing rain with snow limited to areas east of I-81.

The best chance for accumulating snow will be across the higher elevations of the Southern Tier and Central New York. Much of the immediate Finger Lakes region will see no accumulation at all, or a coating at most. Grassy surfaces and cars are likely to see any accumulations, but the roads will remain wet and unaffected.
You can get the forecast for your zip-code by filling in the box below. Bookmark your page on all your devices so you can always get the best weather for the Finger Lakes. You can read more about these zip-code forecasts here.

Rainy Thursday

Any snow that does accumulate will quickly melt Thursday morning as steady rain continues and temperatures rise.

The rain may lessen during the midday hours, only to pick up again later in the afternoon. By Thursday night, the system will pull away from the Finger Lakes, ending all but a few isolated showers.

Total liquid precipitation amounts from this system will generally be between a half and three-quarters of an inch, but a few places could see upwards of an inch of rain.

Thursday’s rain will be a chilly one, with temperatures mostly in the low to mid 40s.

First Look at the Weekend

One or two storm systems may impact the Finger Lakes region this weekend. Either there may be one stronger system or two weaker systems. Either way, rain showers will be possible both Saturday and Sunday as a result.

Temperatures should get a boost as the weather complex moves through the region. A period of time where temperatures rise to near 60 degrees will be possible. Whether this is Saturday or early Sunday again depends on the evolution of the storm system(s).

A single, stronger storm system could also bring another round of gusty winds on Sunday.