First Alert Weather: Morning lake flakes making roads a bit slippery, but will taper off into the afternoon
ROCHESTER, N.Y. After the rain and snow we had last night, temperatures dropped to frigid levels and caused plenty of icy spots on the road to form. It’ll be very cold all day, so be aware that some of those slippery spots will still be around if left untreated. Also, if you have anywhere you need to be today, give yourself a little extra time to get the ice off your car.
There’s still a bit of leftover moisture available from the system that passed through yesterday, and when combined with north winds, we’re still getting some residual lake flakes. They’re very localized; different areas are seeing nothing while others are seeing near whiteout conditions. However, there’s a large patch of high pressure sitting over Ontario that’s making its way over to us, and the closer it gets the more suppressed those lake flakes will become. By the afternoon we should be flake-free.
Other than some icy spots and residual morning lake flakes, the main concern today is the cold. Temperatures will peak in the mid teens, and wind chill values in the low teens. Clouds will start to lessen as the day goes on, and then tonight will be in the single digits.
Sunday is looking cold, but not as cold… High temperatures will be in the upper 20s to low 30s, and we’ll get another round of widespread snow from the afternoon into the night. Only an inch or two of snow is expected, and the Monday morning commute shouldn’t be bad as temperatures begin to rise above freezing.
If you’re going to be Freezin’ for a Reason this Sunday at the Rochester Polar Plunge, it’s looking it will be… cold. Air temperature along the lakeshore will reach the mid 20s, and the water temperature will only be three degrees above freezing… Better make it a quick swim! Also, winds will be at around 15 MPH, which means it will feel even colder getting out of the water. Get to that heated tent fast!
We’ll see several chances at slick roads next week as temperatures bounce around from above to below freezing. The two biggest chances right now are Tuesday morning and Friday morning, so stay tuned as we’ll continue to track the threat of icy conditions.
Stay warm!