Get ready for more rain and snow in the Northeast because it’s returning in a matter of days.
We are not yet done with winter. There may be light snow on Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday, especially in the interior Northeast.
“Don’t put that coat away just yet,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Kiyana Lewis said. “Enjoy this nice treat on Friday with temperatures above average, but you know it is still winter after all.”
A change in weather patterns across the U.S. will bring about significant temperature fluctuations. As the arctic air is pushed out, warm air will envelop the eastern half of the country, resulting in above-average temperatures for over 200 million people through the end of the workweek, according to the FOX Forecast Center. This will provide a welcome relief from the recent cold spell and help in melting any accumulated snow and ice.
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“Anyone that’s getting snow right now is going to see that melt, and I feel so bad for all the ski areas,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Craig Herrera said. “They’re finally getting snow, and now it’s not going to either just compact and turn into slush or a lot of it melting away.”
Herrera added that there will be heavy rain over upslope areas in portions of the Adirondacks of New York through the mountains of West Virginia.
“This is still to come through Friday,” he said. “We’re not done with the rain.”
The FOX Forecast Center is monitoring areas such as Buffalo, New York, where snow affected a major NFL game last week. Now, we’re seeing a reversal of that trend with the opportunity for rain, which could lead to some other concerns in terms of flooding.
“I just don’t like this overall look for the Northeast,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan said. “We’re in late January, early February, and it looks to be a very rainy signal.”
The National Weather Service in Buffalo issued a Flood Watch from Thursday afternoon until Saturday morning for some areas in western New York, including Chautauqua and Erie counties. The excessive rain could lead to ice jams and snowmelt across the area.
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“The rain, it’s not that important when we talk about totals,” Lewis said. “About a half an inch to an inch of rain over Buffalo. But again, when we consider the fact that a lot of the ground in Buffalo still has snow on it, that’s what leads to that flood threat that we’re talking about.”
Flood alerts have also been issued farther east for the entire state of Rhode Island.
“I think we got maybe the better half of Saturday with the break, but you’ll notice here on our future radar that Sunday is going to be a bit of a doozy,” Lewis said. “And then we take this into the workweek. Monday, we may even see some wet flurries in portions of upstate New York back towards New England as well.”