First Alert Weather: Thunder returns Thursday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A beautiful Wednesday will be replaced by another round of rain and a few storms on Thursday.

Widespread storms in the upper Midwest Wednesday evening will dive south across the Great Lakes Wednesday night into Thursday morning. This will increase our cloud cover by early Thursday. We’ll see a dry start, but that same storm system will clip western New York, bringing rain and a few storms by late morning into the afternoon.

The best dynamics to support severe weather will lie south of NYS, leaving us with periods of rain and some thunder, but likely non-severe. While we may not see gusty winds or hail, we will likely see some lightning and another round of locally heavy rain. The heaviest rain should fall south of the Thruway into the Southern Tier into the afternoon. Rainfall amounts will range from a quarter of an inch closer to Lake Ontario, up to an inch through the Southern Tier.

The threat of severe weather remains low, so we are green on the First Alert Threat Tracker. The main batch of rain pulls away by about dinner time, and cooler air wraps in. In fact, it’ll be cool enough to produce some lake-enhanced rain showers Thursday night into the first part of Friday.

High pressure nudges in from the north, clearing our sky and bringing a good deal of sunshine by Friday afternoon from north to south. Despite this nice sun, temperatures will still remain about 10-15 degrees cooler than average, holding near 70 Friday afternoon.

The weekend: Saturday still looks lovely, with sunshine giving way to increasing clouds late in the day, but remaining dry. Showers move in Saturday night, with a better chance for some afternoon thunder on Sunday as a cold front slowly slides south. So, if you’re planning outdoor fun this weekend, Saturday will be the better day.

That cold front clears the area by Monday, leaving us with another nice and comfortable day with highs in the lower 70s and a good deal of sun.

——————————

Download the WHEC First Alert Weather app to stay up to date while on the go.

Watch the latest full forecast at whec.com/weather.