Pulling up the overnight air quality data this morning, the numbers tell a familiar and frustrating story — Canadian wildfire smoke is back, and it’s draped across most of the Finger Lakes right now. Air Quality Alerts are in effect for a wide swath of the region, including Tompkins, Schuyler, Chemung, Steuben, Yates, and Seneca Counties, until 1:15 PM today. A separate alert covers Ontario, Livingston, and Allegany Counties until midnight tonight.
This morning starts with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s regionwide under partly cloudy to overcast skies — hazy is probably the better word. Ithaca sits at 67°, Corning is overcast at 67°, and Watkins Glen checks in at 68°. The smoke is doing real meteorological work here: NWS Buffalo notes that wildfire particulates are knocking afternoon highs down 5 to 10 degrees compared to where they’d otherwise be. Expect highs only in the mid-80s this afternoon — Ithaca near 87°, Geneva around 85° — rather than the low-to-mid 90s this setup would normally produce.
Afternoon and evening conditions stay dry, with surface high pressure locked over the Great Lakes keeping rain away. The smoke is expected to thin somewhat tonight, though some haze may linger or return Friday as the flow aloft keeps drawing from south-central Canada.
The bigger story arrives this weekend. Unsettled weather moves in Friday night, with showers and thunderstorms expected Saturday and continuing into Sunday — precipitation probability reaching 87% Saturday and Sunday. Next week looks more comfortable, with partly cloudy skies Monday and temperatures settling into the low-to-mid 70s by 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.