Lake effect snow machine

Lake effect snow will make travel difficult in parts of western New York and central Ontario late tonight and Thursday. This photo was taken along Interstate 81 during a 2008 lake snow event south of Watertown.

The lake effect snow machine will likely get cranked up for the first time this season late tonight and especially Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Low pressure and a cold front will cross the area today setting up a westerly fetch off the central Great Lakes. The most likely area for accumulating snow will be the higher elevations east of Lake Ontario and Erie across western New York. There is a watch in effect for Osewgo, Jefferson and Lewis Counties of New York. This includes Interstate 81 between Watertown and Syracuse, so if you have travels that way keep this in mind. There is also a snow squall watch out for Sault Ste Marie in Ontario for up to 25cm of wind driven lake effect snow, getting cranked up later today.

Outside of that, including here in Montreal, the weather picture looks tranquil for mid-November. One low pressure area over Mississippi will produce rain and some severe weather in the southern US and towards the middle Atlantic, but that will remain well south of our regions. That same cold front starting the lake snows will produce some isolated showers tonight into Thursday before cooler temperatures allow for some flurries to mix in. Ahead of the front it will be very mild today, well above normal at 14C. Temperatures will be quite a bit cooler tomorrow and Friday remaining near 5C and quite windy out of the west up to 50km/h. Arctic air moving into the Rockies and Prairies will retreat back north again, so I expect very little of it to reach us here in the east. It appears next week will be mild again with no big storms on the horizon and temperatures back to above normal values.