– Wet snow & rain mix likely near sunset Tuesday
– Mix quickly changes to rain in the valley
– Several inches of wet snow possible in Catskills
Our NW winds are beginning to wind down on the back side of a frontal system that brought rain showers to the Hudson Valley Friday night & Saturday morning. While the weather will be chilly and blustery over the next day or two… the big question on many people’s minds is what is happening with our Tuesday/Wednesday storm threat.
A low pressure over the midwest is likely to push into the Great Lakes on Monday. At the same time, the cold high pressure moving into the Northeast tonight and Sunday will be sliding east. As the storm approaches on Tuesday, there will still be some cold air holding on across the Hudson Valley. The result may be a period of wet snow, changing over to rain before midnight Tuesday night.
There are multiple forecast challenges at this time…
1. How cold will the temperatures be at the surface?
2. How cold will the air be at 5000 feet (cloud level)?
3. How long does the cold air hold on, before giving way to milder air?
HUDSON VALLEY: Temperatures are likely to be 35° to 40° at the onset of the precipitation. The further north you go, the better odds of seeing a brief period of wet snow prior to changing over to a cold rain. Accumulations may be a slushy coating to an inch (mainly on grass)… before changing over to rain. Areas north of I-84 have the better odds of seeing a period of wet snow… but we will continue to fine tune the forecast as we get closer.
CATSKILLS: The best chance for accumulating snow is going to be in the Catskills and upper Hudson Valley. The Catskills could see several inches of snow before the temperatures climb above freezing.
We will be closely watching this system, and have updates regularly as we get closer.
-Bill