First Alert Weather: The first weekend of spring will look and feel like winter

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Spring officially arrived last Sunday, but our first full spring weekend will feel anything but spring-like!

A series of cold fronts will knock our temperatures back through the weekend, and increase our winds and chances for snow.

The details: we’ll see a passing rain or wet snow shower tonight, but nothing that’ll accumulate. The same goes for tomorrow. A warm front lifting through early Saturday will bring a better chance for more widespread rain and wet snow showers, but it’ll be a little too mild for any accumulation. Temperatures at the surface should top out in the mid 40s Saturday afternoon, before a cold front quickly moves across western New York.

Winds will pick up, and temperatures will begin to fall. Rain showers will transition over to snow showers by evening, with some minor accumulating snow overnight. Expect little more than a coating on the ground by Sunday morning. Temperatures will start near freezing on Sunday, and fall from there. Most of Sunday will be spent in the 20s. Some wind gusts nearing 30 mph at times will make it feel more like the teens most of Sunday. Snow showers and some areas of lake effect snow will continue on Sunday.

With temperatures being colder Sunday, we’ll have a better chance of seeing a little bit of snow stick, even during the daylight, despite that stronger March sunshine. In all, most will see less than 1" of snow this weekend, but some spots could see as much as 2-3" where localized lake effect bands tend to focus a little longer. Bottom line: keep the snow brush handy this weekend, but you likely won’t need the shovels.

The coldest air will be overhead on Monday, with highs not making it out of the 20s, and a gusty wind making it feel more like the single digits most of the day. Flurries will be tapering, but you’ll still see them flying through the air.

The core of the coldest air begins to pull away on Tuesday. Highs will return to the 30s, and we’ll see some sun making a comeback. Our next weather maker will be a storm system on Wednesday. It’ll likely be cold enough at the surface in the morning, with a wintry mix possible for a few hours. Temperatures should quickly rise above freezing, changing any mix over to rain showers. Thursday may briefly flirt with 60, before cooling off back into the 40s again by the end of the week. At this point, it appears our cooler than average pattern will continue into the start of April.

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