📉 Friday night not as snowy, monitoring Monday-Tuesday 📈

Update #539b

Good day!

A trend toward warmer temperatures later today and tonight has seen forecasts of mostly snow change to a mix of rain and snow for the Hudson Valley.

Above freezing road temperatures means that snow will melt as quickly as it falls on Friday evening, with any accumulation confined to grass at first. In other words, even when it’s snowing, it will be more like rain! 🙃

As a coastal low pressure system strengthens tonight into Saturday morning, snow rates will increase with the chance for roads to become slushy, particularly in elevated areas north and west of I-84.

Although it’s not looking too bad, Winter Weather Advisories are in effect regionwide.

Friday night-Saturday morning

What? A mix of rain and wet snow Friday evening, becoming all snow Friday night. Slushy conditions are possible Friday night into Saturday morning.

When? Starting 4:00 - 7:00 pm Friday from west to east, ending around noon Saturday.

How much? A coating-2 inches in valley areas, 2-4 inches in elevated areas and the Catskills.

Impact? So long as snow isn’t accumulating on roads, after school activities can go on — roadway accumulation looks unlikely Friday evening. Slushy road conditions may develop later at night into Saturday morning, mainly on secondary roads and in elevated areas. Road conditions will improve quickly after sunrise Saturday with mainly wet conditions expected.

Monday-Tuesday

Based on social media sentiment, it appears folks are content skipping right over Friday night’s event and moving along to Monday-Tuesday. While the second event holds more promise for accumulating snow, it isn’t a slam dunk.

Here’s my three main takeaways at this point:

• Monday looks similar to Friday evening — above freezing temperatures and wet snow in the air, most likely melting on contact.

• Snow rates picking up late Monday into Tuesday as a coastal low strengthens.

• A high boom/bust risk! On the bust side of things, marginally cold temperatures could render accumulation challenging. On the boom side, the potential for a potent nor’easter could allow intense bands of snow to pivot over the region from late Monday into Tuesday.

We’ll know more this weekend, so stay tuned!