Upstate New York is bracing for its first sting of cold winter weather this week.
Already this cold weather system has caused some school delays and closures. And high winds knocked out the power in Tompkins County on Monday. But it’s going to get a whole lot colder by the middle of the week, the National Weather Service is predicting.
"It looks like on Wednesday, we’ll be lucky to see a high of ten degrees in Syracuse," said Ray Brady, a meteorologist with the weather service.
Brady says winds will diminish a little from Monday’s bluster, but they’ll still be strong enough to drive wind chills to dangerous levels. "You need to bundle up, cover your exposed skin, wear clothing in layers; the common sense kind of things we normally do in the winter season around here in central New York," he said.
The winter’s first cold snap is part of a weather system bringing Canada’s cold air to most of the country. Brady forecasts temperatures will be bearable again by the weekend, but overall, January will probably be chilly.
Last winter brought long spells of frigid air. Brady says the long-term climate forecast for the next 90 days is for temperatures to be above and below the average.
"And that usually means we end up about normal for the 90 period and the same for precipitation," he said. So they’re looking for basically an average winter, average weather conditions for the next three months."