First Alert Weather In-Depth: Looking for record warmth

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — To be honest, News10NBC’s Glenn Johnson is a little bit concerned that Rochesterians are getting a too comfortable with this nice February weather!

We have been monitoring the warming trend since Tuesday and the temperature is now reaching the middle 40s, and there’s no reason to think the unseasonably mild weather is not going to continue, at least in the short term.

One indicator of the warmer forecast is what is happening to the west of Rochester. So where our weather is coming from, it is a southerly wind and  portions of Ohio are now measuring temperatures in the 50s. Obviously, nobody knows exactly what the future holds, but it stands to reason it will turn noticeably warmer as we go through Thursday, Friday, and early Saturday.

When the News10NBC First Alert meteorologists see these indicators, there is speculation that Rochester could push towards a record high temperature. Our current analysis shows that Rochester will likely fall short of the records for all three days, but it appears the greatest opportunity to get into record territory could be Friday.

Right now, our projection is for a high temperature of 58 degrees on Friday, and the record is 62 degrees set back in 2001. The record should be safe on Saturday as well (record is 57 degrees), however, it is interesting to note that this record has stood for 144 years when it was last measured in 1881. This is probably one of the oldest records on the books for Rochester.

We know this balmy weather will not last forever. Look for a change in the weather pattern as we head into next week. The overall long-wave pattern and attending upper level winds will shift dramatically just in time for Valentine’s Day. “Old-man winter” will come roaring back with an extending period very cold weather.

Yes, it will be back to reality for Rochesterians.