The smoke signal is hard to miss at noon — hazy skies and that faint acrid quality to the air are the calling cards of Canadian wildfire smoke still flowing in on a west-northwest wind. Air Quality Alerts remain in effect across most of the Finger Lakes through midnight tonight, though the NWS Binghamton zone covering Ithaca, Watkins Glen, and the southern tier expires at 1:15 PM this afternoon.
NWS Buffalo notes the smoke has knocked today’s highs down 5 to 10 degrees from where they’d otherwise be — so the 84° Ithaca and Watkins Glen are showing right now already feels like a gift. Expect those readings to peak near 87° and 88° respectively through mid-afternoon before backing off this evening.
Tonight stays dry and quiet as high pressure holds. Friday looks similar — mostly dry, smoke possibly returning. The pattern changes meaningfully by Saturday, when shower and thunderstorm chances increase ahead of an unsettled weekend stretch.
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.