Snow on Saturday
A frontal system, combined with lake effect, is bringing snow to the Finger Lakes Saturday morning. Snow should continue into the mid-afternoon hours.
An area of low pressure is passing north of the region Saturday morning. A second low exists over the Mid-west, with a frontal boundary extending between the two systems.
The third player in this morning’s set up is an area of arctic high pressure north of the Great Lakes that will dive southeast tonight and Sunday.
The result is a rather complex situation where lake effect, a surge of warmer air from the southwest, and the incoming colder air associated with the high pressure is generating some widespread snow.
This widespread snow will have some embedded squalls in it, especially this afternoon as the front sags south and picks up the lake effect snow off of Lake Ontario and carries it into the Finger Lakes.
Accumulations will generally be an inch or two throughout today. Travel condition could become a bit tricky in some of the heavier squalls.
Temperatures today should rise into the mid and upper 20s before dropping back into the teens this evening as snow ends and skies clear.
Cold Start to Sunday
Early Sunday, high pressure will build into the region. This high pressure system has some very cold associated with it.
Temperatures in Canada, north of Lake Michigan, are as cold as -35 degrees Saturday morning.
It will not get anywhere near that cold here in the Finger Lakes. Even in a simple set-up, the Great Lakes would act to modify that air.
Furthermore, warm air will continue to slowly work in aloft, which will help keep temperatures from getting as cold as they would otherwise.
Still, many areas will start the day Sunday in the single digits. A few of the coldest valleys of the Southern Tier and Central New York could end up near or below zero. Closer to the lakes, temperatures will be in the low teens.
Warming Trend Into Next Week
Skies will start the day sunny before clouds increase through the day. Temperatures will warm into the upper 20s during the day and will then push into the low 30s Sunday night.
Some light snow will move in Sunday night with accumulations around or less than an inch.
The snow showers will turn to rain showers on Monday as warm air continues to push in, sending high temperatures to the upper 30s or even to 40 degrees for a few areas.
Rain showers will continue off and on into Tuesday with temperatures warming into the mid 40s.
Slightly cooler air will settle in for Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the low 30s before another storm system pushes temperatures back into the 40s on Friday.
The chances for a white Christmas will, therefore, depend on just how warm it gets, how much rain falls with this second system, and what sort of lake effect sets up next weekend behind it.
Did You Try to Contact Me?
Sometimes, things break on a website. Worse yet, sometimes there is no indication something is broken for weeks or even months.
Such has been the case with a couple of the contact forms on my website. I do not know how long they have not been working, but after filling out the form and getting a ‘success’ message, the messages have been lost in cyberspace and never making it to my inbox.
So, if you have filled out my general contact form, the educational presentation request form, or the sponsorship interest form anytime in the last weeks or months and not gotten a reply, I did not receive your submission.
I apologize for that error, especially if anyone had been interested in sponsoring Finger Lakes Weather during the one-day sale I offered a few weeks ago.
The forms are now fixed, so please resubmit any messages, or email me at FingerLakesWeather[at]gmail.com. Thank you!
