March 23, 2025 - American Public News

ITHACA, N.Y. — Compared to some of the recent warm sunny days Ithaca has experienced, this week might feel like a let down, but climatologically speaking, this will be a fairly typical week for early spring, a time period many somewhat affectionately know as “mud season”. Temperatures will be seasonable, but the risk for rain or snow showers will be present for much of the week ahead. Thankfully, nothing particularly disruptive appears to be in the forecast for this week, although the situation for next weekend needs to be closely monitored.Quiet weather today. Low pressure moves in tonight, with snow starting in the evening, changing to a wintry mix overnight, with rain by sunrise. Accumulations will be light, with a trace to a few tenths of an inch of snow for most and N Oneida/Catskills possibly getting 1-2 in. pic.twitter.com/E9xoA3KnF7— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) March 23, 2025 Your Weekly WeatherYesterday’s frontal trough is now well to the east of Tompkins County and high pressure sits overhead. However, this relative stability will be short-lived as a low pressure storm system becomes organized over the Midwest today, and begins its eastward trek across the Great Lakes tonight.Some high clouds are already beginning to arrive in the Finger Lakes as the storm system’s cloud shield works in from the west. Skies will become progressively cloudier today, but it should stay dry through the daylight hours, with highs a little below normal, in the lower 40s. Skies will become overcast tonight, with a mixture of rain and snow will commence around midnight, and warmer air ahead of the low’s core will change the areas of snow to rain by sunrise. Any snow that does occur is expected to be less than an inch of accumulation, and rainfall will be fairly light, around 0.10″. Lows will be in the mid 30s.In the warm sector of the slow-moving low, Monday will be a milder day, but unsettled, with mostly cloudy skies, a persistent risk of some on-and-off rain showers, and a south wind. Highs will be in the upper 50s. Monday night will see a few rain showers, primarily before midnight, with cloudy skies and lows in the mid 30s.The counterclockwise-circulating low finally crosses Ithaca’s longitude Tuesday morning around sunrise, and winds will become northwesterly. Mostly cloudy skies and scattered light rain showers will continue to be a risk through the day, and it will also be colder, with highs only in the mid 40s. Tuesday night will see partly cloudy skies and a few lake-enhanced snow showers will be possible, with lows bottoming out in the upper 20s.Diffuse high pressure builds in from the west for Wednesday. On the northwest wind driven by the high’s clockwise circulation, lake enhanced snow and rain showers remain possible, with mostly cloudy skies and highs in the lower 40s. Wednesday night will see showers end, with partly cloudy skies and lows in the mid 20s.The high moves eastward for Thursday, which will tamp down the northwesterly flow and allow for a milder day, with partly cloudy skies and highs in the lower 50s. Increasing clouds are likely later in the day, with a few rain and snow showers primarily north of Ithaca as a frontal trough passes to the north. Lows will be in the low 30s overnight, with more clouds than open sky.High pressure moves off the Atlantic Coast Friday, but a disturbance to the southwest will mitigate some of the warming potential of the clockwise-rotating high’s western flank. Skies will be partly cloudy with highs around 50. Friday night will be mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snow showers and lows in the lower 30s.This weekend is looking rather complicated. There is a fairly wide disparity in precip types, amounts and even high temperatures as a shortwave crosses the region, with a large storm system moving northeastward up the Ohio River Valley and across the Northeast for the start of next week – to use NWS Binghamton’s words, it looks “quite chaotic”. Small differences in track for both system make for big differences in meteorological outcomes. The warm outcome for Saturday is rain showers and mid 50s, the cold outcome has AM snow changing to rain with mid 40s. Sunday is looking warmer with the storm system to the west, and is likely to be a rainy day with highs in the 50s. Keep in mind that confidence is lower than usual, so if you have weekend plans, keep an eye on the weather forecast for updates. Graphics courtesy of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.Extended OutlookPeering ahead into the start of April, the large-scale weather pattern is likely to have a prominent jet stream ridge over the Central United States, with dry continental air from Mexico in place over Texas and the Desert Southwest. Around the ridge, upstream and downstream troughs will allow colder than normal air into parts of the West Coast and Northeast, with wetter than normal conditions. On the cusp of those two regimes, Tompkins County is likely to be near-normal temperature-wise, with precip likely to be slightly above normal for the first week of April.The post Weather: Sunny today, but unsettled & cool this week appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.