Yellow Alert for Wednesday evening and Thursday for snow, sleet, and freezing rain

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Snow is expected on Wednesday afternoon with heavier snow developing around 4 to 5 p.m. and lasting until it changes to sleet between 7 to 9 p.m.

The changeover will be from the south to the north on Wednesday evening. The initial snow will bring 1 to 2 inches for everyone by 6 p.m. with a couple more inches north of the Thruway, including Rochester. That’s before the changeover on Wednesday night.

Plan on 3 to 4 inches in the metro with closer to 5 inches by Lake Ontario. Travel will become difficult as the snowfall rates increase later on Wednesday into the start of the night.

Then, we have to deal with a couple hours of sleet before a change to freezing rain during the overnight hours. At this time it appears the best chance for ice accumulations will also be north of the Thruway with a tenth to quarter inch of glaze possible.

This is not an ice storm, but some local tree and power issues may develop. The heavier precipitation rapidly ends early Thursday morning with light freezing drizzle and snow throughout the day.

If we do end up with a quarter inch of ice coating the trees then another issue will be the wind forecast late Thursday night into Friday morning. Again, this all depends on if we get some icing on the trees but that combined with some gusts 30-40 mph may bring more power outages by Friday morning.

Stay tuned to News10NBC for the latest on the timing of the heaviest snow this evening and the ice amounts for Thursday.

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