Windy & Warm Today

Written by John DiPasquale:

A reinforcing shot of warmer air will combine with gusty south-southwest winds to drive temperatures up well into the 80s this afternoon with a passing shower/storm possible through the early afternoon. Most of us, though, will stay dry through today.

A cold front & upper air disturbance will charge the area late tonight into tomorrow morning & trigger some showers & storms, a few of which could become strong to severe with damaging wind gusts & large hail.

After some showers/storm through mid Thursday morning we should dry out some during the late morning & into the afternoon with a gusty west-northwest wind & some sun developing come the late morning & afternoon hours. Temperatures will peak out near 80 before dropping back into the mid 70s to end the day. There will still be a slight risk for a passing shower or two tomorrow afternoon, but most of the rain that falls Thursday will be experienced during the morning.

High pressure will settle in from the west Thursday night into Friday & probably sticking with us right into Saturday setting us up for great weather Friday & Saturday with sun & highs in the mid to upper 70s. Meanwhile, Irene will be raging & moving up the eastern seaboard & likely affecting & POSSIBLY making landfall in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina late Friday night/Saturday. Then thereafter, anywhere from about NYC to Boston/Cape Cod & down east Maine will have to hunker down for a POTENTIAL landfall Sunday into Monday. At this time, it appears Southeastern New England has the best chance to take a direct hit from this dangerous storm, which still could be a major hurricane when it does possibly make landfall in the northeast! If you have travel plans into New England, Mid-Atlantic or Eastern & Southeastern New York this weekend be sure to keep abreast of the latest forecasts over the coming days, because you may not be able to get into some of the forementioned spots due to Irene. Other than some wind, at this point it looks like we here in WNY will be just mainly spectators for this one, but be sure to stay tuned because if Irene takes more of westerly/inland track we would be impacted much more then.

Have a great day & enjoy the summery warmth later today WNY!