The Weather Center has been watching the thermometers across the region all day, and the numbers are striking — Ithaca and Watkins Glen both hit 99° this afternoon, making this one of the most intense heat days of the summer. Heat Advisories from both NWS Buffalo and NWS Binghamton expire at 8:00 PM tonight, which is the right call: as westerly winds continue and the sun drops, conditions will ease fairly quickly this evening.
Lows tonight will settle in the upper 60s to low 70s regionwide — Geneva near 70°, Canandaigua around 72°, with Corning and Bath dipping a bit further, into the mid-to-upper 60s. No frost risk, no precipitation. Skies stay mainly clear overnight.
Worth noting: Air Quality Alerts remain in effect through much of the region — smoke aloft from Canadian wildfires has been filtering sunshine and is why NWS Buffalo actually dialed temperatures back a few degrees from earlier guidance. Those AQI alerts run through Wednesday night for most counties, and through Thursday midnight for some northern areas, so sensitive groups should limit prolonged outdoor activity tomorrow even as the heat backs off.
Wednesday looks genuinely more comfortable: partly cloudy skies, highs near 89° in Geneva — still warm, but meaningfully below today’s peak. By Thursday and into the weekend, a gradual cooling trend brings highs to the low 80s, with some drizzle possible Friday through Sunday.
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.