Obnoxiously Cold, Possible Snow??

It's mild and moist and the peepers are peeping, but Mother Nature is about to pull the rug out from underneath us here in the Southern Tier! A sharp cold front is charging eastward this evening, and much colder air is already filtering into Western New York at this time. The front should pass through Binghamton between 9:00 and 9:30 this evening with rapidly falling temperatures and a brisk westerly wind in its wake.

The piece of cold air which is swiftly approaching is being pinwheeled around a large upper low currently spinning in place to our north. In addition to the cold air there is a healthy amount of low level moisture wrapping around the upper low...and as that cold moist air is forced up into the higher elevations south of the Thruway, it will keep our chances for precipitation going right through tomorrow morning. The precipitation should remain all rain through about 5AM, but after 5AM that rain will mix with then change to snow across the area...beginning on the highest hilltops and gradually descending to the valley floors around daybreak. A period of accumulating snow is likely at elevations above 1500 feet...and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few spots up in Tompkins and Cortland Counties receive a slushy 3-4" of accumulation by around 10:00 tomorrow morning. Below 1500 feet there will be little to no accumulation.

Another story tomorrow will be the wind. I expect to see a rapid increase in wind speed between roughly 8:00 and 9:00 tomorrow morning...and the wind will remain very strong and gusty into tomorrow evening. The strongest winds will likely occur between 11AM and 5PM when widespread gusts of 45-50 mph can be expected. The wind will combine with temperatures in the 30s and occasional wet snow showers to make for a real nasty day by April standards! I certainly don't plan on doing anything outdoors, and nor should you LOL.

We'll catch a break from the active weather on Sunday although there will be plenty of clouds and a continuation of chilly temperatures, but the next storm in the lineup will already be bearing down on us by Monday morning. This storm looks to begin as rain but there are some pretty strong signals that an anomalous late season snow event may be brewing for Monday night and Tuesday...this time possibly extending down into the valleys. More details on this over the weekend.