1/27 PM Zone Update: Gusty, return to seasonable conditions this weekend

Today has been yet another cooler departure from the previous few days as much of the region is currently experiencing mostly cloudy conditions with some disorganized snow showers moving through the eastern areas of Pennsylvania and southern New York. These disorganized squalls have made some progress into central and southern New Jersey, but ultimately will have a limited impacts for the New York metro this afternoon and evening. Downslope flow and drier air work to keep these squalls on the lighter side and confined mainly to the north and western regions. However it is important to note that some of these bands could work their way down later this afternoon and produce reduced visibility as well as slippery roads for some folks in the area, so it is important to remain alert during the afternoon commute.

Otherwise, the main focus for the rest of today will be the gusty winds of around 20-30 mph affecting most of our area which can be attributed to a large low pressure system over eastern Canada. The locally higher areas of winds can be seen in the latest visible satellite imagery as ripples in the overall cloud pattern. As temperatures once again drop down this afternoon to the upper 30’s, we should begin to see the winds diminish and gradually die off once we head into the evening hours. Any remaining squalls and the mostly cloudy conditions should also depart this evening as temperatures fall into the middle to low 30’s for most of the area, with upper 20’s possible in the outlying regions.

Current Visible Satellite, Regional Radar Mosaic, and Surface Observations (Courtesy of Simuawips.com)

Current Visible Satellite, Regional Radar Mosaic, and Surface Observations (Courtesy of Simuawips.com)

Cloudy skies should again return to the area on Saturday throughout the day as another upper-level disturbance makes its way east. This disturbance will be lacking in moisture as it remains in a dry, maritime polar air mass, so no significant precipitation is expected, but gusty winds will once again be possible throughout the day. As we move onto Sunday, a longwave trough will set up over much of the east and this trough will have embedded disturbances coming in from Canada, the first of which will be moving through our area on Sunday evening, into Monday morning. This disturbance may have some interaction with limited moisture from the south, but as of right now this appears to take place too late to bring a chance of measurable precipitation outside of the New Jersey coast. The last of these quick-moving disturbances will move through on Wednesday, but once again looks to be too moisture-starved to have a shot at bringing measurable snow or rain outside of areas to our north and east, but this will be looked at in further detail as we get closer.

NAM 500 mb vorticity chart for 8pm Sunday, showing the first of two disturbances coming down from Canada

NAM 500 mb vorticity chart for 8pm Sunday, showing the first of two disturbances coming down from Canada

 

 

Make sure you stay tuned for further updates regarding the isolated snow potential on Monday and possible clipper system next Wednesday.

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Have a great weekend!