ITHACA, N.Y. — It’s colder than Snow Miser’s icy heart this morning, but today and tonight will be the low point for temperatures through this week, and likely for the rest of 2024. The Arctic high will gradually shift SE’ward by tomorrow and following a weak a weak clipper low, quiet and comparatively mild conditions will take the reins for the Christmas holiday and the remainder of the week.
Very cold tonight with narrow bands of lake effect snow continuing into early Sunday morning. Add'l snowfall of 1-3" in the winter weather advisory. Cold Weather Advisories also in place for portions of the area. Stay warm & safe out there. #NYwx #pawx https://t.co/cCmwCsTToa pic.twitter.com/nhgBk0CjFj
— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) December 21, 2024
Your Weekly Weather
You don’t need a meteorologist to tell you it’s cold. An Arctic high over Ontario and Quebec will move SSE over the course of the day today, which will provide stable if bitterly cold temperatures across the region.
Overnight lows last night were close to zero in many areas, with windchills making it feel even colder, and today won’t see much warming. The lake effect bands should shut down with the strong stability of the high, though the frigid air passing over the warmer water of Lake Ontario will produce some low-level cloud cover over Tompkins County. Highs will only be in the mid teens today, a sizable 20 degrees below normal. Lows tonight will be close to zero as the cloud cover thins out and the wind settles down.
As the high moves over Southern New England Monday, more southerly air in the rear flank of its clockwise circulation will raise the temperatures substantially, though it will still be a little below normal. Clouds will increase during the day as a clipper low approaches from WNW, and highs will be near 30 degrees. Monday night will see a spritz of snow, no more than a coating to an inch for most areas, as the leading edge of the clipper’s precipitation shield enters the region. It will be cloudy with lows in the lower 20s.
As that clipper passes through Tuesday, the flow of air behind it will be zonal (west-east), which will portend more seasonable temperatures. Tuesday will be a mix of light rain and snow showers with mostly cloudy skies and highs in the upper 30s. Tuesday Christmas Eve night will see the showers end, though it will remain mostly cloudy. Lows Tuesday night will be in the mid 20s.
Christmas Day will be seasonable and meteorologically quiet. A weak storm system will be slowly moving eastward to Ithaca’s south, but the frontal boundary of the low is unlikely to make it this far north. It will be dry with mostly cloudy skies and highs in the mid 30s. Wednesday night will be mostly cloudy and seasonably cold with lows in the mid 20s.
High pressure over Maine and the Gulf of St. Lawrence will provide quiet conditions for the second half of the week, and it will take some time for a storm system over the Midwest to become organized and grind eastward, likely not making it into Tompkins County until Sunday. Thursday will be partly cloudy with highs in the mid 30s. Thursday night will be mostly cloudy with lows in the mid 20s.
Friday will be another quiet weather day, and a little warmer as the storm system to the west impels a little more southerly air into the region. Skies will be mostly cloudy with highs around 40. Friday night will be mostly cloudy with lows around 30.
Looking into next weekend, temperatures will be on the warm side of normal, with a dry, mostly cloudy Saturday and a wetter Sunday as that storm system approaches from the west. Saturday will be in the low 40s and Sunday in the mid 40s, with lows in the mid to upper 30s.
Extended Outlook
Taking a look towards the New Year, the large-scale pattern will be representative of our annual meteorological averages the past few years – warmer and wetter than climatological normal. A ridge in the jet stream will bring milder than normal air into the Eastern Great Lakes and Northeast (think upper 40s to low 50s, this is winter after all), but the flow of moisture and the prevailing storm track being close to Tompkins County will mean a wetter and likely rainier than normal period of weather as we start 2025.
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