First Alert Weather: Cold and windy in Rochester, Erie snowband bringing flakes to the hills

ROCHESTER. N.Y. A strong lake effect snowband off of Lake Erie continues to drop considerable amounts of snow over portions of Erie and Chautauqua Counties, with snowfall totals already reaching over a foot and a half in some areas. This has prompted a shutdown of the Thruway all the way from exit 57 in Hamburg down to the P.A. border. The tail end of that snowband is over Wyoming County, where some towns have up to a foot of snow on the ground.

Stray snow coming off of the snowband has also left more minor accumulation in the high elevations south of Rochester, with current snowfall totals being up to 3 inches in areas such as Springwater and Nunda. Rochester meanwhile still has yet to see any snowfall this season… Since no snow is expected today, it will be the first time on record that Rochester has had to wait until December to see its first flakes.

If you’re going out shopping for Small Business Saturday, make sure to bring a warm winter jacket. It is a COLD Saturday in Rochester, with high temperatures expected to climb to the mid 30s… But when you take into account westerly wind gusts at 25 MPH, it will feel more like the high 20s at best. The sky will be a mix of sun and clouds, which will then tip in the clouds’ favor as the day goes on.

Looking ahead to the rest of this weekend, the snowband off Lake Erie will not last forever. It has remained a little north of due east, and will slowly move back south and become less organized by Sunday afternoon, but not before dumping another foot of snow or more along the Lake Erie coastline. And because that shift in the wind will be west turning to northwest, that means lake effect snow from Lake Ontario will begin to make its way onto the lakeshore. That means Rochester is expected to have its first snowfall late Sunday night, although the exact timing remains uncertain.

It is also uncertain just how much snow Rochester may see, but the current estimate is about an inch by Monday morning. This will also add to the higher elevation’s snowfall total as those snow showers move south. This will begin a pattern of cold air, strong winds, and lake effect snow for the Rochester region. Monday will see more afternoon lake effect snow showers, Tuesday will see snow showers more so in the morning, and on Wednesday an Alberta clipper (A.K.A. a fast-moving low pressure system coming out of Canada) nestles into the Great Lakes, bringing a more spread-out snow event to Western New York, which will more heavily affect the high elevations. Again, it is difficult to give an exact snowfall total forecast due to the highly variable nature of lake effect snow, so make sure to stay tuned to News10 NBC to see how the forecast develops.

Sounds like today is a great day to shop local for some WARM clothes!