First Alert Weather In-Depth: Looking for Snow?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – We can hear the “moans and the groans” as soon as the News 10NBC First Alert Meteorologists start talking about some winter weather. But we have to start the conversation if you live in Western New York.

So it may be time to take out the yard stick to take a measurement. Using Rochester weather history, which goes back 138 years of record keeping, the average date for the first snowflakes to fall at the Rochester Airport is around October 23^rd.  The first inch of snow usually occurs on November 20^th.  The earliest reported snowflakes on record was on September 20^th.  That happened back in 1956.  And the earliest first inch of snow recorded in Rochester was back in 1906. That happened on this date of October 11^th.

This In–Depth weather topic is timely because there is the chance that these first snowflakes could happen by the middle of next week. The coldest weather this season is in the forecast for next week. And with the arrival of this cold air, it is likely that we will see some lake effect precipitation. This means there could be a little rain, bit of wet snow and maybe some of those ice pellets. However, if we see any real winter conditions, it has the best chance of happening in the higher elevations.

Before this messy weather arrives, it may be a good time to look for those winter boots.