Saturday Afternoon, 7/19/2008

A weak cold front has been the focus for a few scattered thunderstorms across Central New York this afternoon.  As this front moves to the south and east of Syracuse, there will be a better chance for a few heavier showers and thunderstorms for these areas, particularly across the Finger Lakes eastward to the Catskills.

Some storms to the south and east of Syracuse this afternoon could be on the strong side, with frequent lightning, gusty winds, and hail.  This has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for much of Eastern and Southern Central New York.  Stay tuned to 9wsyr.com for forecast updates throughout the afternoon, or to view our real-time stream of Live Doppler 9.

We are watching an area of thunderstorms moving into Western New York. A few of these storms may survive the trip into Central New York thisevening, though they will likely be isolated. Bottom line; much ofNorthern Central New York will stay dry this evening.

The cold front will sort of "stall out" to our south later today, and will actually lift back north as warm front tonight.  That would mean our chances for more widespread showers and thunderstorms will increase as we go into late tonight and early Sunday morning.  We may see a few breaks of sunshine by late morning and early afternoon, before the clouds thicken up again. The increase in clouds will be due to an area of low pressure moving just to our west tomorrow afternoon.  This low will also bring steady rain and thunder to Central New York throughout the afternoon tomorrow.

This storm will keep a shower around through Monday morning, though the sun should be out by the afternoon. Temperatures will be slightly cooler with highs around 80, and the humidity will gradually come down. The muggy air will be out of here by Tuesday, as the humidity falls back to comfortable levels.