Accumulating snow for many next week

The weather pattern will be turning very active across western New York next week with many areas seeing their first accumulating snow of the season. Along with the snow, frigid air will arrive and stick around for several days.

The first storm system will develop over the southeast tomorrow and then race northeast and center itself near Long Island on Monday. This will not be a particularly strong area of low pressure but it will have plenty of moisture and cold air at the surface to work with. As a result, widespread light snow will overspread much of the region early Monday morning and then continue through Monday evening.

It's still a bit too early to give exact snowfall amounts but in general, 2-4" looks like a good possibility for much of our area by the time this system moves out of the region Monday night.

Behind this initial area of low pressure, a reinforcing shot of cold air will move in from the northwest Tuesday into Wednesday bringing us the coldest temperatures so far this season. Highs by the middle part of next week will struggle to climb above the mid 20s. Gusty winds will drop wind chill values into the single digits and teens.

During this time, all the ingredients will be coming together for a significant lake effect snow event. A favorable west or southwest wind direction will combine with the frigid temperatures and plenty of atmospheric moisture to produce some very impressive lake effect bands. Right now, it looks like areas east and northeast of Lake Erie and Ontario will see the heaviest snow with those favored snow belts measuring the snow in feet!

For Rochester, we'll escape much of this heavy snow with just scattered snow showers, gusty winds, and cold temperatures expected for the city.

Stay with the News 8 Weather team for more updates in the coming days.

Written By: Matt Jones