There are two areas of low pressure we are watching very carefully on our weather map this evening. One is located just west of Chicago causing snow; another is down over the Florida Panhandle with rain and thunder. Both of these systems will combine Friday evening off the New England coast to cause a blizzard for parts of the Northeast. For central New York, however, it is the Midwest low that will have the bigger impact on our weather.
By Friday morning, our Midwest low will be in eastern Ohio and there should be snow spreading as far east as central New York. We think the snow will generally be light for the morning commute. As low pressure moves closer to us later in the day and Friday evening our snow intensity will start to pick up. However, by Friday night the energy from our Midwest low will transfer to low pressure system off the New England coast. That coastal low becomes the main player overnight Friday and our snow should begin to taper off. New data suggests this transfer could take place a bit sooner than we were thinking earlier which would impact our snowfall amounts. We currently think a majority of central New York is in line for a 4-8” snow with most of this coming between late afternoon Friday and the first part of Friday night.
As mentioned above, the northern and southern systems will phase, or merge somewhere south of Long Island and turn into a powerful Nor’easter. Much of eastern New England is under a Blizzard warning more than two feet of snow possible! If you have travel plans by plane, train or automobile to the east of Syracuse during this time be aware that this storm will likely impact your plans.
As far as central New York is concerned, Friday’s storm system will be a fast mover as there is no block in the atmosphere up over the Canadian Maritimes to slow things down. By Saturday, the weather in central New York will be improving. We still think a few flurries are possible early Saturday as a northerly flow of colder air coming over Lake Ontario will cause a limited amount of lake effect. Our weather for the rest of the weekend is quiet as high pressure builds right over us. Plan for a cold night Saturday night but with plenty of sunshine we should begin to warm Sunday.
A new storm system coming out of the middle of the country will track northeast into the Great Lakes Monday. Southerly winds ahead of the system will try to bring milder air into central New York. Initially, cold air will hold tough so there could be a brief period of wintry mix before we go over to rain showers
