Syracuse, N.Y. -- Upstate New York is bracing for another powerful winter storm this weekend similar to the one that hit Tuesday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people.
Winds won’t be quite as strong as those that did damage on Tuesday -- the peak gust then was 79 mph -- but could still be 60 mph, especially in Western New York, the National Weather Service said. And the winds at the beginning of the storm will be from the southeast, like they were Tuesday, which can be particularly damaging to trees that grow bracing themselves against prevailing southwest winds.
All of Upstate is under weather service wind alerts. Western New York and the counties along Lake Ontario are under a high wind warning, the highest alert level, from 10 tonight until 4 a.m. Sunday.
“Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines,” the weather service warning said. “Widespread power outages are expected.”
Central New York will be spared the worst of the wind, although gusts could still come close to 50 mph tonight. The storm will bring just an inch or two of snow to most of the state, including the Syracuse area, tonight and tomorrow.
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The storm will drag in the coldest air of the winter so far. Temperatures will fall below freezing this weekend and stay there for at least a week, the longest stretch of cold we’ve had this season. With the strong winds this weekend, the wind chill could drop into the single digits across Upstate New York.
Winds on Saturday will shift from the southeast to the southwest, then barrel across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, both abnormally warm and relatively ice-free. That could produce “significant” lake effect snow for the Buffalo area, Tug Hill and the western Adirondacks, the weather service said.
Most of Upstate New York will see just an inch or two of snow, mixed with rain.
Given the strong winds, which are expected to peak Saturday night, blowing snow could make driving hazardous or even impossible, the weather service warned in issuing a winter storm watch for Western New York.
The winds and snow could affect the Buffalo Bills playoff game on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game will be cold and windy, but it’s impossible to predict whether a narrow lake effect snow band will hit Highmark Stadium during the three-hour game window.
“It all depends on where that band sets up,” said Mark Wysocki, New York state’s climatologist. “If it goes right over Orchard Park, you could see some pretty nice whiteout conditions.”
As always with lake effect snow, which falls in narrow and undulating bands, pinpointing exactly where it will fall and how much is one of Upstate’s biggest meteorological challenges. Forecasters are confident that there will be lake effect snow, but even small changes in wind direction can move the band 10 or 20 miles.
The storm reaches Upstate late today, dropping a little bit of wet snow. Temperatures will hover in the upper 30s overnight, turning that snow to rain. About a half inch of rain is expected across much of the state, with more in the Catskills, where flooding could again be an issue.
Winds are expected to be strong tonight, with gusts reaching almost 50 mph. After a lull early Saturday, winds pick up again and continue through the day Sunday.
The storm train will continue as a nor’easter heads up the coast Tuesday or Wednesday. What impact that will have on Upstate New York remains unclear.