Wind Warnings and Advisories for the Finger Lakes Wednesday

Winds will strengthen this morning and peak this afternoon when some areas could gust to or over 50 mph.

Strong Winds Wednesday

A narrow wedge of high pressure has built into the Finger Lakes Wednesday morning behind a cold front that moved through last night. As this wedge slips east, the region will see increasing winds along with some clouds and a few showers.

The best chance for any rain today will be during the early afternoon hours as a second cold front comes through the area. It is especially behind this front that the wind will really start to pick up.

The strongest winds will be in the far northwestern reaches of the Finger Lakes region. Monroe, Genesee, and Wyoming counties are all under High Wind Warnings. Wind gusts in these areas could go above 60 mph, which is enough to cause minor structural damage along with downing trees and power lines.

Update- Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, and Allegheny counties have been upgraded to High Wind Warnings as well.

For comparison, the criteria for a severe thunderstorm is wind speeds over 58 mph and hurricane-force winds are above 74 mph.

The remainder of the Finger Lakes is under a Wind Advisory, which is not as serious as a warning. Wind gusts over 50 mph are likely west of Canandaigua Lake, with 40-50 mph gusts, locally higher, to the east.

The winds will lessen slightly tonight, with overnight gusts in the 35 to 45 mph range across the region. Winds of that magnitude will persist into Thursday, especially during the first part of the day.

Temperatures Trend Colder

The temperature today will get a nice boost from the early morning sun and a southerly breeze. Temperatures are starting in the 30s, but should quickly warm this morning to around 50 degrees by midday.

However, once the cold front moves through, the temperatures will start to back off this afternoon. Expect mostly 40s this afternoon as the temperature slowly cools. The wind will make it feel more like the 30s, though.

Overnight lows tonight should drop into the upper 20s, with high temperatures on Thursday in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees.

A storm system will track to the south of the Finger Lakes on Friday. Cooler air on the north side of this system will move in, with morning high temperatures around 30 degrees and a drop into the 20s Friday afternoon. Currently, the bulk of the precipitation from this system looks to be locked away over Pennsylvania, but it will be a close call. The Southern Tier, in particular, could see some snow, and should the system jog north even a little, several inches of accumulation could result. Stay tuned.

Behind that system, another shot of arctic air will pour into the region on gusty, but not terribly strong northwest winds. High temperatures on Saturday will struggle to reach 20 degrees, with morning lows Sunday at least in the single digits. Sunday itself will not be much warmer.

Temperatures will moderate back towards average for Monday, but this time, there is no big warm up on the horizon. Temperatures will likely remain at or below normal through next week.

Save

Save

Save