LAKE EFFECT PLUS GUSTY WINDS EQUALS MESSY MORNING COMMUTE

Written by: Brian Neudorff

It was a busy morning, the forecast from last night held true. Around 4 am that long lake band off of Erie started to drop south as the strong winds became more west. It put down about an inch of snow in Rochester but it wasn't amounts but the blowing and drifting snow that caused the problems for many during the morning commute. At 8:30 am as the snow was pushing more south and at this time most of the snow was south of the Thruway, Tom George reported there had been over 3 dozen auto accidents that morning.

As advertised the lake band has dropped south of Rochester, and winds have actually eased a little promting the Nation Weather Service to downgrade the High Winds Warning to a Windy Advisory. There won't be any gusts of 50 or 60, in fact the strongest gust I saw in Rochester was about 46 mph during the overnight hours. Back to the lake effect snows. Most of the snow should remain south of Rochester and even the Thruway. There will be a few light snow showers along the southern part of Monroe county with 1 to 3 inches, but you won't have to go far into northern Livingston county and Wyoming where amounts could rapidly reach 4 to 8 with some localized areas reaching a foot or more. Of course winds are still gusty and along route 20 and down 390 travel could be very hazardous.