A couple of different mechanisms will bring snow to parts of central New York over the next 24 hours. First, there is the ongoing lake effect. Winds have turned more westerly and will stay in that general direction throughout tonight. That puts Oswego, Lewis and northern Oneida counties under the gun for additional snow accumulations tonight. The lower atmosphere is not as primed as it was last night (when a foot or more of snow fell over the Tug Hill) so we expect snowfall to be lower, on the order of 3 or 4 inches.
As we start tomorrow, the lake effect will continue north of Syracuse but we will also watch some light snow clip the southern part of our viewing area. Here is what’s happening. A weak area of low pressure will form tonight over the Mid Atlantic states and quickly shoot northeast off the coast. North of this low will be an area of widespread snow that will likely extend as far north as Ithaca, Cortland and Norwich. Any accumulations in these areas would be light (on the order of an inch or less) and the snow should be departing by the middle of the day.
Lake effect snow will weaken tomorrow afternoon north of Syracuse but not before an additional light accumulations falls east of the lake.
The next weather system to have an impact on our weather is a cold front. This front will approach us from the west on Wednesday and will move through central New York by late in the day. There will be some snow with the front itself but then the winds will shift into the northwest behind the front and areas southeast of Lake Ontario, including Syracuse, will be candidates for more lake effect snow Wednesday night.
There could be a bit more lake effect snow Thursday then we will start to see a change in the weather pattern over us. We expect temperatures will start to moderate over the weekend.
