Happy New Year! We started 2019 off with damaging winds and mild weather. Wind gusts on Tuesday morning exceeded 50 mph in many areas with early high temperatures in the low 50s.

The snow is just about gone in the lower elevations in our area. This is very unusual for January, and it's not surprising to see thing will change. Our first widespread snowfall of 2019 is expected tonight, bringing a light to moderate snowfall across the region.

The snow begins Wednesdasy evening between 7-9 pm.  The south wind will play a major role in snowfall totals in our area.  A south wind is expected to create a snow shadow, or lack of snowfall, in the Mohawk Valley as winds sink off the hilltops south of the valley.  North of the valley features the opposite pattern, upslope snowfall.  The rising air over the valley on the hilltops north will experience higher snowfall totals. 

The differences between the valley and hilltops are expected to be much higher than usual in this type of weather pattern due to the wind direction.

The weather is expected to remain quiet towards the end of the week and weekend as temperatures climb well above freezing.