Weekend travelers need to watch out for lake snow

ROCHESTER, NY (WHAM) – So far we’ve managed to avoid real cold and snow around WNY for most of the fall season, but it looks like we’ll soon see a much colder weather pattern in the Great Lakes and New England .

If you’ve lived in the Greater Rochester area for any amount of time, you know that the cold can often lead to heavy snowfall.

At this time we are not expecting heavy snowfall for the Rochester region, but the traditional snowbelt areas south of Buffalo and east of Lake Ontario could see heavy snowfall through the weekend.

If you’re on vacation, drive along Rt. 90 south of Buffalo or north of Syracuse on Rt. 81 Then the snow could impact your vacation trip Friday through Monday morning.

Much of the greater Buffalo area is already under the National Weather Service’s winter storm watch due to the possibility of heavy snowfall over the weekend.

For the rest of us in town, we’ll likely see the first flakes of the season late Wednesday night and Thanksgiving Thursday. A storm system far south of the area will be responsible for these flakes.

North of this storm system, light to moderate snow will occur across central and northern Pennsylvania.

Travelers heading to the southern tier of New York state near Binghamton or northern Pennsylvania will experience the brunt of the snow on Thanksgiving Day.

Here’s a look at the forecast snow amounts from Wednesday night through Thursday night.

Have you noticed that most of the accumulating snow is expected well southeast of Rochester? Again, we’ll likely see flying flakes and possibly even a slushy coating on grassy areas, but no widespread travel issues are expected near Rochester.

What we will all experience is the return of colder than normal temperatures. Over the weekend, you can expect high temperatures again in the low to mid 30s and overnight temperatures in the low to mid 20s.

It looks like the cold will have some staying power too. Temperatures will likely continue below normal through next week.

We expect there may be more snow and lake snow next week and will keep you updated as we get a little closer.

This year you can also take our weather forecast with you on your trip.

Find our local weather forecast or the weather forecast for your destination in the 13WHAM weather app below.

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