Heavy rain to impact our area today
Last night and early this morning, many areas, especially north and west of NYC had quite the icing event. Saturday’s Arctic air was a bit more stubborn to leave than forecast, as only a light southerly flow was not enough to escort it out. However, temperatures aloft were able to warm more easily, since wind flow above the ground is stronger. This means that precipitation would melt when it hit the warm air aloft (into rain) but then freeze when it hit the colder ground, giving a lot of the area freezing rain. We are starting to see a transition to plain rain in Westchester county and other immediate NYC suburbs, but most other further north and west suburbs could continue to have ice until around noon or slightly longer. Even as we write this, it is in the 40s in most of Long Island, but only 30 degrees in Danbury airport.
In its wake will be heavy rain for this afternoon. The rain is mostly light across the area, but should become moderate around 11:00am, and will get heavier after 1:00pm. The heaviest rains for our area will be between 2:00pm and 6:00pm, particularly between 3:00pm and 5:00pm, before ending between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. For further east suburbs like Suffolk county, you can push these timeframes back an hour or two.