Mid-Week Weather
Cooler air is moving back into the region in the wake of a cold front that moved through during the overnight.
Northwest winds behind the front will steadily increase this morning and peak during the afternoon. Wind speeds will be around 15 mph with gusts of 25-35 mph. The strongest winds will be along the shore of Lake Ontario and for areas east of Cayuga Lake.
Skies will remain cloudy throughout the day, with just a few stray flurries this morning and early in the afternoon. Late in the afternoon, some lake effect will start to kick up for areas east of Cayuga Lake.
This snow will continue into the nighttime hours, peaking during the evening. A gradual decline in snow will take place after midnight, and by Wednesday morning, there should only be a few stray flurries lingering.
A general one or two inches is expected for these areas with no more than a coating elsewhere.
Temperatures today will mostly hold steady in the mid and upper 20s. Nighttime temperatures will drop to the mid 10s with a few low 10s in the typically colder areas, such as the western Southern Tier and Cortland County.
Wednesday will be quiet, but still cloudy. Winds will be light from the southeast, if not completely calm at times. Afternoon highs will be in the mid 20s.
Another push of warmer air will result in widespread light to moderate precipitation Thursday morning. There is still uncertainty about what type of precipitation will fall, with either mainly snow or an icy mix of sleet and freezing rain most likely.
Either way, some slick travel conditions should be expected throughout Thursday morning and possibly even into the early afternoon. There is at least a possibility that some areas could end up with as much as a quarter inch of ice, though the models seem to be trending lower on the freezing rain amounts.
South and southeast winds will become strong Thursday morning with speeds up to 20 mph and gusts as high as 45 mph. Any ice load on trees and power lines combined with these winds could result in some power outages.
Precipitation will eventually turn over to rain as temperatures rise, reaching and high in the upper 30s and low 40s. Much of the precipitation may be over by this time, though.
More Active Weather
Temperatures will fall as quick as they rise with mid 20s Thursday night and highs in the upper 20s on Friday.
Winds will be from the west-northwest, so any lake effect snow that develops on Friday will mainly be over the far northeastern Finger Lakes, generally near or north of Syracuse.
Temperatures will drop into the 10s Friday night. Saturday will start out quiet, but another mixed bag of precipitation will be possible late in the afternoon and through the nighttime hours.
Saturday will see afternoon highs around 30 degrees with nighttime temperatures rising into the low or mid 30s. Sunday will see temperatures fall back into the 20s as any morning rain or mixed precipitation turns over to snow showers.
Travel later Sunday should be much easier going than Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Snow showers from lake effect will be possible on Monday with temperatures sticking to the 20s.
Models have been consistently hinting at a chance for widespread snow toward the middle of next week, focusing on Thursday. This is over a week away, so it is nothing more than a situation I will be keeping an eye on. Be wary of premature forecasts and hype.
More Information:
» Finger Lakes Weather Radar
» Zip Code Forecasts
» Get the FLX Weather Mobile App
This graphic represents an average over the entire Finger Lakes region. Localized variations should be expected.
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