Turning Wet and Colder Tonight

Warm weather will come to an end this evening.  A cold front will sweep across central New York tonight and will bring with it a period of steady rain that will accompany a quick drop in temperature.  The steadiest of the rain will probably only last three or four hours in any one spot before ending after midnight.  When the rain ends, there will even be some clearing of our skies.

Our cooling process won’t end tomorrow morning.  Cooler and cooler air will come in tomorrow in the wake of tonight’s cold front which means we will lose ground temperature-wise during the day.  By afternoon we will settle into the mid 30s.  With the colder air will come some snow showers, especially during the afternoon.  There could be a light accumulation of up to an inch over higher elevations.

Our window for these lake effect snow showers will be rather brief.  High pressure will start to build into central New York Wednesday night.  The drier air will help to dry up the lake effect snow showers.  While this high means quiet weather for us Thursday, high level moisture and clouds will already be streaming in from the west.

Moisture trying to return Thursday is part of a cold front that will start impact us Friday with rain showers. This front will approach from the west but will get ‘hung up’ here in the Northeast.  Jet stream winds aloft will be out of the southwest over us this weekend so the front won’t be too far away from us Saturday and Sunday.  That’s why we are keeping showers in the forecast for the weekend.

There is still some uncertainty for early next week but it is looking more and more like a stronger area of low pressure will forma long the front and track to our west on Monday. That will turn our winds back into the south and push our temperatures above normal.