There is yet more threat of potentially severe weather across parts of the Western New York region Thursday, following a confirmed tornado during a round of severe weather late Wednesday across the southern tier, National Weather Service forecasters say. NWS storm survey team confirmed a tornado southeast of Machias was .17 miles with peak wind gusts of 75 miles per hour.
"The severe portion of those storms was really isolated to the southern tier, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany," NWS meteorologist Phillip Pandolfo tells WBEN. "It seems the damage reports we've received so far are really concentrated across Cattaraugus County."
Showers and a few rumbles of thunder are in the early Thursday forecast, as well as some areas of dense fog across the metro Buffalo area and northward toward Niagara Falls.
There is again the potential for severe weather again later in the day Thursday.
"The threat level is going to be shifted northeast out of the southern tier, compared to where it was yesterday," Pandolfo predicts. "We're expecting the highest severe threat to be more from east of Buffalo toward Rochester and the Finger Lakes region."
Storms will begin forming in the early afternoon and track eastward.
"We are expecting a few of them to be strong to severe."
As the weekend unfolds, another round of widespread showers is expected with a few possible thunderstorms Saturday into Saturday night.
The very warm pattern continues through Saturday before much colder air arrives by early next week.
While temps will cool off a few degrees for Friday, above average temperatures will persist through Saturday, before the much colder air arrives. High temperatures Saturday will be in the 70's and plummet to the 40's Sunday and 30's Monday.
AccuWeather.com
