On the midday weather map we have two areas of low pressure: one near Detroit and the other near Baltimore. The easterly winds around this double barreled system continue to bring moisture and relatively mild air into central New York. This will provide us with a continuation of a mix of rain and snow. In addition to the main area of low pressure, there is a disturbance in the jet stream winds aloft that will pass through central New York during the afternoon. This will cause our precipitation to become steadier. Over lower elevations it will be a rain/wet snow mix and over higher elevations the precipitation will transition to just snow.
New accumulations of snow during the afternoon will be minimal in low elevations where rain may only be accompanied by snow briefly. A quick couple of inches of snow is possible over the higher terrain of Tompkins, Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, Madison and Chenango counties this afternoon. Temperatures in these areas that do get the steadiest snow will be a bit cooler so watch for a slushy accumulation on roads. For the rest of Central New York, precipitation should change over to just wet snow during the evening hours.
Thankfully, we are moving out of our period of stronger winds as a low level jet pulls away from us into New England. In fact, winds should be very light by later in the day.
By Thursday, both storms we mentioned above are forecast to more-or-less consolidate back into one system as it slowly moves through the Northeast. Enough colder air should work back into the region to allow for mainly snow showers to fall at all elevations. Even colder air is forecast to arrive late in the week and especially over the weekend. We may struggle to approach 30 degrees for daytime high temperatures this weekend. Along with the below average temperatures we expect plenty of clouds and the threat for flurries or snow showers.
