Lake effect snow showers will have a stronghold over central New York this afternoon now that a cold front has passed through. Winds will remain northwesterly, allowing snow to fall mainly southeast of the lake.
While the core of the coldest air will be lifting out of central New York this afternoon, the winds over us will remain out of the northwest through the day so we expect lake effect snow showers to continue. The lower atmosphere is actually rather dry making it hard for the lake effect to be very productive. We expect most areas will have little if any additional accumulation this afternoon but some of the higher terrain south of Syracuse and over the Tug Hill could see a bit more than a couple of additional inches the rest of the day.
Outside the lake effect snow showers, the big story is the cold. It still looks as if temperatures will stay in the 20s all day and the cold will be accompanied by a gusty northwesterly breeze making it feel like it is in the teens.
We will get a brief break from the snow tonight and early Friday. However, a weak weather system will be diving southeast across the Great Lakes and will arrive in central New York by midday Friday. This is likely to cause a period of light snow.
Looking ahead to the upcoming weekend, an area of low pressure will pass to our south Saturday. As this happens, temperatures now appear too cold for anything but snow to fall across central New York early Saturday. In fact, there are signs from some of our computer models that this system may end up far enough south that we stay dry on Saturday. Stay tuned. Behind that system, a reinforcing shot of cold air will arrive keeping Central New York locked in a chilly weather pattern through early next week.
