First Alert Weather: Frigid February weekend

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Say so long to our little February thaw, at least for a few days. Temperatures will drop from near 50 Friday afternoon, into the lower 30s by Saturday morning, and we’re not done.

A secondary cold front will drop us into the lower 20s and upper teens by Saturday evening. Rain showers Friday evening transition over to some snow showers by morning, with little to no accumulation expected overnight. Our second cold front should arrive around sunrise on Saturday, and this will bring a burst of snow with it, followed by a few hours of scattered snow showers. We may pick up a coating to an inch from this in the morning, but it shouldn’t be much. Winds will be busy, with some gusts nearing 30 mph, making wind chills feel more like the teens. Once the wind begins to relax a bit Saturday evening, and the wind shifts more out of the north, we’ll see some lake effect snow developing. Most of this should focus in on our northern tier counties, including Monroe, Wayne and Orleans Saturday night into Sunday morning.

We could see an inch or two of fresh lake fluff by Sunday morning, with another few inches possible on Sunday. Overall, expect a general 1-3" of accumulation for most north of the Thruway, maybe 3-5" in Wayne County throughout the weekend. Meanwhile, areas south of the Thruway will see little accumulating snow.

Everybody will be feeling the fresh blast of cold air. Temperatures Saturday night will drop into the single digits, especially away from the lake. Sunday will be the colder weekend day, with temperatures remaining in the teens. We may drop below zero for the 8th time this winter Monday morning, and wind chills will be even lower. Valentine’s Day will be on the chillier side. After that cold morning, we’ll hold in the teens for most of the day flirting with 20 by afternoon. Any morning lake flurries will end, and we at least should see some sun returning. If you have dinner plans Monday evening, you won’t need to worry about any precipitation, but you will want to bundle up, with temperatures dropping into the single digits again through the evening.

Temperatures will moderate, and actually warm quite nicely through the middle part of next week, with the 50s not out of the question. But, this is the result of a developing storm system that may bring another round of wintry weather, depending on the exact track and setup of the storm. Details on that to come this weekend and early next week as the forecast becomes a little more clear.

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