CHRISTMAS UPDATE ON ICY TRAVEL

Written by: Brian Neudorff

Good morning, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of the News 8 Weather Team. As I write this, between 9:30a and 10a it appears that some of the precipitation was moving into the southwest corner of Western New York. In locations south of Rochester, along the Chautauqua Ridge and Southern Tier, this precipitation will fall as a wintry mix of snow, sleet and eventually freezing rain. This looks like it could last from late morning into the early afternoon. The good news there doesn't look to be a lot so this shouldn't be a big ice event. Even with a tenth to a quarter of an inch of ice can cause some slick spots on area raodways. If you will be traveling in these areas this morning or early afternoon, be cautious. These counties south of the Thruway are under a winter weather advisory until 7pm Christmas night.

For Rochester and locations to the north, temperatures will be just above freezing allow most if not all of the precipitation to come down as rain. As of 9am, Rochester's temperature was at 30 degrees as more warm air is expected to advect into the region. Even Buffalo and Dansville's temperatures were above freezing as of 9am. Rain should arrive in Monroe and Wayne counties later this afternoon and continue into the evening and overnight. This will come down as all rain.

If you are going to be traveling towards Syracuse, Albany and other places in Central, Eastern and Northern New York today I would leave early. By evening as the precipitation spreads from the southwest into the northeast this is where the worst of the icy conditions will be. From Utica over to Albany there are freezing rain advisories posted from 7pm tonight into Saturday afternoon.