First Alert Weather In-Depth: Patience is running thin

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – It is only a theory. But, Meteorologist Glenn Johnson thinks Rochesterians will put up with just about any kind of weather as long as we get a little bit of sunshine. He gets that sense that for most people, patience is running a little bit thin when waiting for better weather. 

A comparison of cloud cover over the last two weeks shows that with the exception of one day, it has been uniformly gray across Western New York. And, there is  a specific meteorological reason for this and it comes down to the overall weather pattern and something called the “omega block”. This is due to the shape of the jet stream and the position of the upper level wind pattern. That pattern across North America is similar to the Greek letter Omega. 

This configuration does not necessary bring bad weather to anyone location, but it slows down the overall movement of weather systems from one day to another. As a result, the real impact is on your location in relation to this large scale weather pattern. Obviously, Rochester is not in a favorable position. Lately, the temperature has been only in the 40s during the daylight hours and if you do a comparison to a typical day in early May the temperature is usually in the 60s. So, a quick calculation shows Western New York is now running 10 to 20 degrees below normal.

In addition, the cloud cover will likely linger into Thursday and early Friday. Fortunately it appears this Omega block will slowly break down heading into the weekend.  Good timing to regenerate your patience to deal with Western New York weather.