Cold surge transitions April showers to potentially accumulating snow showers

The April showers we should be experiencing across the Western New York region April 6 should be rain showers, not snow showers. But thanks to a surge of cold air across much of the Northeast, accumulating snow shoers may be in the offing for Monday night into Tuesday, National Weather Service forecasters say.

"We have a colder air mass that's going to settle in for the next couple days," NWS meteorologist Tony Ansuini tells WBEN. "Today, temperatures only in the lower 40's, we've got a little bit of a breeze out there, so that will put wind chills in the 30's."

For Dyngus Day festivities in Buffalo, scattered rain and wet snow showers are expected, with little accumulation expected. The highest terrain may see a slushy coating grassy areas.

With colder temperatures overnight and the possibility of continued snow showers, snow amounts tonight in the 1 to 3 inch range will be possible for areas north of I-90 toward the south shore of Lake Ontario, and for the higher terrain of the Western Southern Tier. For the lower elevations and areas farther away from the lakes, around an inch of snow will be possible. Above freezing surface temperatures for the start of the snow will cut down on some of the accumulations.

A reinforcement of cold air will mean afternoon temperatures on Tuesday will only reach the upper 20's to mid 30's, around 15 degrees below normal for most areas.

Some good news as the work week unfolds, however.

"We'll be back to where we should be by the time we get to Wednesday, it'll be around 50" Ansuini assures us. "We're going to continue to warm up from there. Thursday and Friday should see 60's, and then by the time we get into the latter part of the weekend into early next week, more spring-like, looks like 70's will be likely by then."