The Wind Advisories already posted across the Finger Lakes tell you most of what you need to know heading into tonight — NWS Buffalo is calling this surface low, bottoming out near 985 millibars, more reminiscent of a November storm than a mid-June one. That’s not a throwaway comparison; the depth of this system and the wind fields it’s generating fall outside the observed 30-year climatology for June.
The advisories cover essentially the entire region and run through Thursday. For most of Seneca, Yates, and Southern Cayuga counties, the Binghamton office has the advisory expiring at 12:30 AM Thursday; the Buffalo office carries it through 8:00 PM Thursday for Ontario, Livingston, and surrounding counties. Expect gusts capable of downing a few trees and causing isolated power outages — not a widespread disaster scenario, but enough to keep you cautious.
Overnight lows drop to the upper 50s to low 60s — Geneva near 58°, Ithaca near 57°. No frost risk tonight; humidity and cloud cover will keep temperatures from falling that far. Showers arrive with the system, with precipitation chances climbing to 55% by tomorrow. Winds will be the bigger story than rainfall — peak gusts expected late tonight through Thursday morning as a 60-to-70-knot low-level jet crosses the eastern Great Lakes. Friday brings lingering gustiness before conditions gradually settle over the weekend.
Weather Center forecast for the Finger Lakes region. Sourced from NWS, Open-Meteo, NWS Area Forecast Discussion, and USGS stream-flow data. Updated 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM ET.