Focus turns toward late Friday after a quiet Christmas

finger lakes weather forecast wednesday december 24 2025 cloudy skies with a little brightness shining through above a field with bushes and weeds poking through a light coating of snow. — Significant winter weather is possible Friday afternoon and Friday night, but until then, the weather will remain mainly quiet for Christmas. [Photo by Gwen Moshier]

Christmas Travel Weather

The weather over the next two days will be quiet, but the weather is expected to turn wintry again late Friday and Friday night.

Wednesday and Thursday will both be quiet days with mostly cloudy skies.

A few stray snow showers will be possible overnight tonight, and again during the midday and afternoon hours on Thursday. None of these snow showers will cause any significant travel concerns or snow accumulations.

Temperatures will be quite steady over the next 36 hours, sticking to the low 30s today and tonight and making it to the mid 30s on Thursday. Wind speeds will drop this morning and remain light through tomorrow morning.

The snow showers on Thursday will be associated with a cold front. Northwest winds will pick up for the afternoon behind the front with speeds around 15 mph and gusts of 25-30 mph. Lighter winds will return Thursday night.

Friday will start off quietly, but precipitation will break out during the afternoon and possibly become heavy by evening.

The models have been showing a fair bit of consistency so far in keeping precipitation as snow across most of the area. Parts of the western Southern Tier are the most likely to see some freezing rain mix in.

If the pattern holds, this may mean the heavy snow band associated with this system will set up across parts of the region. I am particularly watching the southeastern quadrant of the area for the potential of 6+ inches of snow Friday night.

However, if the system jogs a bit further east, freezing rain chances could increase across the western half of the region at least.

Precipitation is expected to end well before sunrise Saturday, though early travel conditions may remain messy as road crews clean up. The remainder of Saturday should be fine for travel with cloudy skies but no additional precipitation.

With Christmas coming tomorrow, I will not have a blog post update. Furthermore, I will be taking the Ask Drew service offline starting early this afternoon through Friday morning. I will be back Friday morning with the latest information.

If you have travel plans on Friday, it would be best to make them early in the day or delay until Saturday. This is particularly the case if heading into central or western Pennsylvania, where significant icing from freezing rain is likely.

finger lakes weather 7-day forecast wed dec 24 | wed, mostly cloudy low 30 | thur, cloudy a few flurries mid 30 | fri, late snow, some heavy mid 20 | sat, cloudy near 30 | sun, late rain mid 30 | mon, windy lake snows mid 20 | tues, windy lake snows low 20 — This graphic represents an average over the entire Finger Lakes region. Localized variations should be expected. Click to enlarge.

Wrapping Up 2025

Looking beyond the immediate post-Christmas period, quiet weather is expected to continue into the first part of Sunday.

A strong weather system is expected to pass by late Sunday and linger into early next week. This should bring mainly rain to the area Sunday and Sunday night, followed by lake effect snow and strong winds Monday and Tuesday.

Temperatures will take a dive behind this system with highs well down into the 20s Monday and Tuesday.

Another weather system looks possible toward New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. While very early, most models do not put out a large amount of snow, but do bring in some strong winds, which could lead to some poor travel conditions if that situation verifies.

Temperatures will likely be knocked down further by that system, and it could be quite the cold start to 2026 with at least a chance for highs in the teens and lows below zero.

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This graphic represents an average over the entire Finger Lakes region. Localized variations should be expected.

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