LOTS OF WEATHER GOING ON THIS WEEKEND

Don't Forget to Watch our Summer Severe Weather Special - StormWarn 2010 Saturday at 7pm on News 8


Written by: Brian Neudorff

There are so many headlines as we go into Friday night into the Weekend.

The first headline would be the risk of storms later tonight and some of those being severe. If we do get any severe storm it would occur between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. and the threat would be strong gusty winds. The image above is from the Storm Prediction Center. This is the office through the National Weather Service that monitors severe weather across the country and is where all the severe thunderstorm/tornado watches come from.

The area inside the red oval shows where a moderate risk for severe weather is, here more widespread areas of severe weather is possible like severe storms and possible tornadoes. Here in western New York we are inside the Green outlined area which is a slight risk for severe weather. This means we could see scattered severe weather, including scattered wind damage or severe hail and possibly some isolated tornadoes. For this particular case I would say our focus is more on wind than it is on hail or tornadoes.

I think we will see some strong and gusty storms later tonight, because there are some strong winds just above the surface, we call this a low level jet, some of those strong winds can work their way to the surface producing damaging wind gusts with in a storm. Remember just because we are under a slight risk for severe weather doesn't mean we will see it. Best recommendation is to monitor updates here on RochesterHompage.net and with Scott later this evening and tonight.

The second headline still has to deal with wind but this time strong steady winds of 25 to 35 mph and gust possibly up to 55 or maybe even 60 for parts of western NY. As of 9am Friday, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming and the other counties near Buffalo are under a High Wind Watch. Like any watch this means there's a potential of high wind speeds developing that may pose a hazard or is life threatening. The criteria for this watch varies from state to state.

If you have put things outdoors already in preparation for the spring/summer season or maybe Mother's Day then this might be the day to bring it in or make sure it is secure.

The final Headline will be the temperatures. All though not as threatening as high winds or severe weather it will turn chilly. Tonight, depending on how far north the warm front gets we could see our temperatures rise a little overnight and be back in the mid to upper 50s by Saturday morning before falling into the 40s by Saturday afternoon. Saturday night temperatures fall into the 30s if there are any lingering showers there could be snow in some of the higher elevations but I expect things to dry out by Sunday. Temperatures will be cool but we will see more sunshine on Sunday as highs reach the low 50s.