Southern Tier gets brunt of early snow
Two towns in Allegany County were the dubious winners of the unofficial snow derby after a mid-autumn snowfall struck outlying areas of Western New York late Thursday and this morning.
The National Weather Service received unofficial reports that Friendship and Whitesville both got belted by 4 inches of snow, in the roughly 15-hour period that ended at 8 a.m. today.
Other significant snow amounts included 3 inches in Perrysburg, in Cattaraugus County; 2½ inches in Warsaw, in Wyoming County; and 1½ in Ashville, in Chautauqua County.
There also will be snow in the air this weekend in Western New York, but the Buffalo metro area likely won't see it.
"We may not get anything here," National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Sage said Thursday night. "There's such a sharp end to it that there's a question if we'll see anything up here. It may only reach southern Erie and Wyoming counties."
The snow, caused by the collision of a low pressure system crossing Pennsylvania and colder air further north, began Thursday afternoon in the Southern Tier counties, where a winter weather advisory was posted through 8 a.m. Saturday.
Thursday's snow melted at first, then began to accumulate in grass. At mid-evening, law enforcement agencies in the Southern Tier reported no weather-related problems. More accumulations were expected in higher elevations as temperatures dropped below freezing.
"There's going to be a shot overnight, more during parts of the day and some more at night," Sage said. "It's going to be kind of an annoyance snow. Because it's wet snow and the leaves are still on the trees, there could be some problems. It's just such an early-season event. You remember what happened here three years ago because it stuck to the tree branches."
The winter weather advisory predicted 4 to 7 inches of snow along the Pennsylvania state line and in higher elevations today and tonight. Other parts of the Southern Tier counties could see 2 to 4 inches. An inch or two might fall in southern Erie and Wyoming counties.
For Buffalo, the suburbs and everywhere else north of the Thruway, the outlook is simply damp and cold. Periods of light rain are expected today and tonight, and temperatures are projected to be far below normal for mid-October, just like they were Thursday.
"The high for Thursday was just 41," Sage noted, "and the normal high for the day is 59."
But don't get the skis out yet. Warmer days are coming, forecasters say, once the weekend is over.
The clouds are expected to clear away Sunday, but temperatures are supposed to stay in the low to mid 40s. Monday, however, should see the return of more seasonable conditions, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid to upper 50s. The long-range forecast says it ought to stay like that for the rest of next week.
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