First Alert Weather In-Depth: Another complicated storm

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Once again, we are talking about a storm that is going to be rather complicated because of the multifaceted set of elements in the forecast.  As a result, we are trying to make it as simple as possible in order to convey this information. The News 10NBC First Alert meteorologists have issued a yellow alert for Friday and Saturday.

There are three weather elements that we need to focus on.  First, is the very cold air that will be arriving on Friday. This will be a rapid drop in the temperature that could be as much as 30 degrees from Friday morning through Friday afternoon.  That will create some problems due to the potential of a flash freeze as we go through Friday afternoon. Any standing water or slush is going to freeze solid. This could cause havoc on any untreated roadways.

Second is the precipitation. It appears it will start as rain for Friday morning, but will quickly change over the snow, especially with that rapid dropping temperature. By the evening it should be manageable amount of snow with an estimate of 2 to 4 inches of accumulation.  However, there will be Lake Erie squalls developing Friday night into Saturday. This will add to the snow totals for communities located to the west of Rochester and some towns near Buffalo could be measuring this in feet and not inches.  

This storm will no doubt bring an extensive amount of blowing and drifting snow. The last portion of this will be strong winds that will arrive Friday afternoon into Saturday. Look for wind speeds that will be pushing 55 to 60 mph (or higher) across all of Western New York.  This is not good news for holiday decorations and the outdoor displays will be in jeopardy.  In addition, isolated tree and power line damage is a possibility.  

If this comes to fruition, the meteorologist is going to be the Grinch that stole Christmas this weekend.