Moisture Lingers Over Finger Lakes
A ribbon of atmospheric moisture on the backside of the major snowstorm that impacted our region will keep clouds and some flurries in the area this weekend.
As the parent low meanders across the Northern Atlantic, a channel of moisture is running from south to north across the Finger Lakes and Central New York.
While skies are sunny across far western New York, clouds remain thick in our region with some very light snow showers.
This moisture is stalled out and will likely remain in place for most of Saturday before drifting east some Saturday night and early Sunday.
The moisture should slide back westward towards the Finger Lakes for later Sunday and possibly even early Monday before a new system takes over the weather pattern.
With the clouds and few flurries in place, temperatures will only rise a couple of degrees today with highs in the low and mid 30s. Winds will continue to gust to 30 mph throughout the day.
Some sun will be possible during the first part of Sunday, though clouds may not quite exit Central New York.
Morning lows will drop into the upper teens for areas the clear out with mid and upper 20s for cloudy areas. Highs Sunday will only reach the low 30s.
Next Week Preview
Monday will generally be a quiet day, though a morning flurry cannot be ruled out as the moisture lingers over the region. Skies should brighten some before clouds from the next system move in.
Some light rain, snow, or mixed precipitation showers will be possible late Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with some additional flurries on Friday.
At this time, significant precipitation is not expected. What does fall will likely be more light on and off showery precipitation.
Temperatures will remain near or slightly below normal with highs mostly in the 30s.
Tuesday morning could be quite cool if skies remain mostly clear Monday night.
[wp_ad_camp_1]Storm Aftermath
In the wake of the storm, thousands are still without power in our region and elsewhere thanks to the strong winds and heavy, wet snow.
Road conditions will slowly improve but remain messy Saturday morning. Please continue to use caution and help one another out as the region cleans up from this storm.
It is always a good idea to take a look back and compare what actually happened to the forecast. While no snow map is ever perfect, and the storm did not quite live up to its potential over the southeastern Finger Lakes, where uncertainty was the highest, overall I am very pleased with how my forecast worked out.
The map shown here displays two things. In the shading is the estimated snow totals from the National Weather Service. This is modeled data based on snow reports, so it is not perfect and the shading in your town may not quite match what actually fell, but it should be pretty close.
Second, the thick lines overtop of the shading are from my final snow map.
The overall pattern of the two maps matches very well, especially considering that the areas I highlighted for the heaviest snow potential ended up almost exactly correct. The stripe of lower amounts across the Southern Tier between Elmira and Binghamton was also a big success.
This was a very elevation dependent storm, especially in and around Ithaca, where one or two degrees in temperature had a huge influence on snow accumulation.
Thank you, everyone, for the reports throughout the storm and for the donations that keep Finger Lakes Weather running!
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John Gregoire
We added another 4.5 inches in the last 24 hrs giving us an 18 inch storm with much drifting and significant tree damage. Light snow and heavy blow here 4 mi SW Mecklenburg. We are indeed at a higher elevation. Lost power for half a day, Sort of trapped behind 150 yards of drift clogged driveway, No good Samaritans out this way. Too old to worry about it. It will melt some day.
Meteorologist Drew Montreuil
Take care John. Sounds like quite the mess.