February 16, 2025 - American Public News

ITHACA, N.Y. — It’s a sloppy, icy mess this Sunday, but a sharp cold front will bring in a much colder if drier air mass for the week ahead. There aren’t any big snow-makers on the weekly horizon for Tompkins County, and the biggest issues this week will be the wintry smorgasbord today, and strong, potentially damaging wind gusts tonight and tomorrow. Temperatures will be below normal for the week, though nothing record-breaking is expected.Your Weekly WeatherFreezing rain has spread across much of the area and is expected to continue into the late morning hours. Travel will be extremely hazardous and is discouraged as roads, parking lots and sidewalks, especially those that are untreated, will be covered in ice and be extremely slick pic.twitter.com/ZuY78L0sAR— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) February 16, 2025 A strong low pressure storm system is currently centered over Upstate New York this morning, moving ENE into New England. Currently, Tompkins County is in the warm sector of the low’s counterclockwise circulation, which has allowed temperatures to climb into the 30s and a precipitation changeover to rain. Ice accretion over many areas overnight is resulting in slippery travel today, so be careful on the roads and sidewalks and give yourself extra time for travel. Per NWS Binghamton, most of the county only received 1-2″ of snow from this event so far. That “so far” is to address the sharp cold front on the rear flank of the low, which at this moment is currently entering the Buffalo area, and should come charging through Tompkins County later this afternoon. With a very strong 1044mb Arctic high currently centered over the Northern Plains, the very tight pressure gradient will drive some roaring winds across the region tonight. For the rest of your Sunday, expect periods of light to moderate rain until about 4-5 PM, when the cold front passes through and the remaining rain showers transition back to snow – no more than a coating <1″ is expected on the back side of this system, because the air encompassing the high is quite dry. Highs in the lower 40s will slide back to around the freezing mark by sunset. Tonight will be cold and cloudy with a few snow showers; the winds will be howling, approaching 50 MPH on the hilltops around Ithaca. Do be careful if you’ll be out tonight or tomorrow morning, as loose tree limbs may come down, and isolated power outages will be possible. Lows tonight will be in the mid to upper teens.Monday may be a day off for some folks, but it won’t be a nice day to hang around outside. With the low pressure storm system rapidly strengthening over Atlantic Canada, the pressure gradient will be remarkable between it and the high over the Northern Plains – 80-90 mb between cores per the model runs. What that means is that across the entire Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the winds will be kicking, 40-60 MPH across much of NYS, and approaching 70 MPH in the Catskills Monday afternoon. Tompkins County can expect 45-60 MPH throughout the daytime hours Monday, with decreasing clouds. Winds this strong won’t allow temps to rise much, with highs only in the mid 20s, but windchills will make it feel like it’s near zero degrees. Monday night will see the winds weaken somewhat, though still blustery, with partly cloudy skies and lows around 5 that will feel more like -10. Winds weaken as the low moves away Tuesday, though the powerful frigid high remains in place over the Northern Plains – for instance, North Dakota will have lows in the -30s, not counting wind chill. Here, it will be frigid but not quite as bad, with partly cloudy skies, some gusty icy winds, and highs in the upper teens. Tuesday night will be mostly cloudy with some weak lake effect to the north of Ithaca, breezy winds, and lows around 10 with subzero wind chill.Wednesday sees winds weaken further, while a storm system passes to the south. While a concern for New York, Philadelphia and Washington, here it will just produce additional clouds and a few flurries, with near-overcast skies with highs in the lower 20s. Wednesday night will be cloudy with lows in the lower teens.Thursday will see a shortwave move across the area, a satellite pulse of instability to the storm southeast of Tompkins County. It will be cloudy with a few snow showers and highs in the mid 20s – I do want to stress that accumulations look to be little if any from this event. Thursday night will be mostly cloudy and dry as the shortwave exits, with lows in the mid teens.The Arctic high will be centered over the Midwest by Friday, and somewhat weaker as it loses its Arctic air power supply. It will be mostly cloudy and dry with northwest winds and highs in the upper 20s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and dry with lows in the mid to upper teens.Peering into next weekend, it’s looking pretty quiet as the high weakens and presses into the Mid-Atlantic. Both Saturday and Sunday look dry with a mix of sun and clouds both days, and highs in the low 30s Saturday and mid 30s Sunday. Lows will be around the upper teens Saturday night and low to mid 20s Sunday night.Graphics courtesy of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.Extended OutlookLooking towards the end of February, the large scale pattern calls for a pronounced jet stream ridge over the Western United States, and a weaker trough to the east. The prevailing storm track would be along the northern border in this arrangement, so Tompkins County is likely to have marginally colder than normal and wetter than normal conditions to close out the month. The post Weather: Stormy Sunday with cold snap to follow appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.