Much nicer weather Tuesday across Finger Lakes

Southerly winds and periods of sunny skies will help boost temperatures into the low 40s this afternoon. Rain and snow return tonight.

Surprisingly Nice Behind Winter Storm

The weather today across the Finger Lakes will be surprisingly pleasant considering the winter storm the region dealt with Sunday and Monday.

A push of warmer air will make its way towards the Finger Lakes as the next weather system dives towards us from Canada.

As this warm air moves in, clouds and maybe even a shower or two will be possible. This will pass through the Finger Lakes during the mid morning to midday hours.

The afternoon should see clearing skies, however. A good deal of sunshine is expected until clouds begin to thicken back up towards sunset.

With the sunshine and southerly winds, temperatures should push above 40 degrees for much of the region. A few of the typically warmer locations may even reach the mid 40s.

Rain & Snow Move Back In

The nice weather will not last very long. Rain and snow showers will return to the Finger Lakes as early as this evening. Periods of rain and snow will then continue through Wednesday and into Thursday.

These rain and snow showers are expected to be scattered, so it will not be precipitating constantly.

Precipitation will likely begin as some rain tonight before mixing with snow as showers become more widespread after midnight. The precipitation may turn back over to rain briefly Wednesday, but primarily the showers will either be mixed or all snow.

While any individual scattered batch of precipitation should not last terribly long, it may come down rather hard for a brief time. This could result in a quick accumulation of snow and rapidly changing road conditions.

Generally speaking, though, the overall impact on daily routines on Wednesday should be fairly minimal.

As colder air moves in Wednesday night, lake effect snow will develop across the northeastern Finger Lakes and persist into Thursday. Several inches may fall between Rochester, Auburn, Syracuse and Homer. Lake effect snow watches have already been issued for many of these areas.

Temperatures Thursday will fall back through the 20s.

Weekend Warm-Up

Lake snows are expected to dissipate Thursday night and into early Friday as high pressure builds in. Some sunshine will be possible during the day before a warm front approaches Friday evening.

Temperatures on Friday will top out in the low 30s on the cool side of this warm front. Once the front passes through, temperatures should rise significantly for the weekend.

At this point, both Saturday and Sunday look to be sunny with no precipitation.

Temperatures should be well above normal, with temperatures at least well into the 40s, but possibly well into the 50s.

New Service- Evening Updates

Yesterday, I began to offer a new forecast update during the evening hours. This is a shorter forecast and is accompanied by an audio clip.

Typically, this update will focus on the evening and next day, with a quick mention of the weather two days out.

These evening updates will usually be posted between 5:15-5:45.

You can find links to the evening audio updates on the FLX Weather homepage or on each zip-code’s forecast page, listed just above the main news story. These evening updates will not be displayed beyond 7 am the next morning.