Seasons are changing, and we’re going to get a taste of that in the next several days. An upper level low pressure is rotating through the northeast on Monday, and spreading rain showers and even some mountain wet snow flakes…
NYS Radar Loop : 2pm to 3:45pm Monday
It’s been many months since we’ve seen blue on the radar, but this is a crisp Canadian air mass, pulling in enough cold air aloft to generate wet snow in the Adirondacks and even parts of the Catskills. A slushy coating can’t be ruled out in the high elevations of the Catskills.
But this front is what brings the crisp Canadian air mass into the Hudson Valley. Blustery winds will be felt Monday evening, before winds ease up overnight and Tuesday morning. Tuesday will see clouds mixing with sunshine, and a few convective rain showers scattered about the region… possibly even a wet snow flake or two in the hill towns.
Tuesday and Wednesday will be the coldest days in terms of afternoon highs. Both days will see temperatures struggle to get out of the 40s in the valley. Quite chilly for mid October, and surely a taste of Fall. But one of the more notable effects of this taste of autumn will be the potential for a widespread frost and possible hard freeze this week.
The coldest night is likely to be Wednesday night into Thursday, where overnight lows could fall below freezing across the majority of the Hudson Valley. This would bring a widespread hard freeze across the valley, and a formal end to the growing season. But while this map represents the coldest night… the rest of the week will be very chilly as well
And Friday morning looks just as cold as this, if not a bit colder. Each morning, with temperatures in the mid 30s expected… widespread Frost is likely. So if you have any outdoor plants still alive at this point… you’ll definitely want to take action for the next 4 to 5 days expecting a possible frost or hard freeze across the Hudson Valley. We’ll try to share the Frost & Freeze advisories through the week as those are issued. As such… before we close, we want to clarify for our viewers in the Catskills and Taconics, that the National Weather Service won’t be issuing any frost or freeze advisories for the higher terrain in our area… because they consider the growing season over.
So get those wood stoves ready, dust off those thermostats … some of us may be turning on the heat for the 1st time this season. But while chilly, least things look mainly dry through the work week. Bundle up Hudson Valley, and have a great week!