First Alert Weather: 1 more milder day before the bitter air returns

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Temperatures made it above freezing Wednesday, allowing some of the ice that’s been forming on driveways, sidewalks and your car to slowly melt.

We’ll get one more day of temperatures above freezing before another blast of colder air. Thursday will see another gloomy day with lots of clouds and a few mixed rain/snow showers as a cold front slowly approaches. This front will take its time moving through, but once it does, you’ll feel it! Temperatures will drop from near 40 tomorrow afternoon, into the teens by early Friday morning. Any mixed rain/snow showers Thursday evening will transition over to snow showers and some lake-enhanced snow Thursday night and Friday. Accumulations should remain light, with nothing more than a coating to an inch or two for most. While it’ll be plenty cold enough for lake snow, there won’t be much moisture in the air. So, with the dry air in place, it’ll be tough to see much accumulation.

The cold will be the big story this weekend, with temperatures Saturday morning near zero, and it’ll be a struggle to make it out of the single digits during the day. It’ll be a COLD game in Orchard Park Saturday night as the Bills take on the Patriots, with temperatures in the lower half of the single digits, and while the wind will be fairly light, any wind will drop wind chill values below zero. Sunday will start off just as cold, with lows at or below zero away from Lake Ontario, but we’ll warm into the 20s with some sunshine.

Potential winter storm looms: We’re continuing to monitor the trends of a potential winter storm forecast to track up the east coast. Depending on the exact track, this may deliver our first major widespread accumulation snow of the season. But, it’ll come down to the exact location. A more westerly track will bring in a bit of a mixed bag, including some accumulating snow. A more easterly track will keep most of the big snows to our east. But a track in the middle may mean a significant snow event for western and central New York.

This storm is still out in the Pacific Ocean, so as we get a little closer, the forecast will become more clear. If the track continues to trend where it currently is, a Yellow Alert will likely be needed. Stay tuned!

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