Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Christmas Day will bring the gift of no weather worries across the Western New York region, with dry conditions and mild above freezing temperatures for most of the day.
On what could be a busy travel day for many, Friday will be a messy day with mixed precipitation and snow.
Low pressure tracking southeast across the Ohio Valley on Friday will bring a wintry mix of precipitation to areas from the southern tier northward to approximately a Buffalo to Dansville line, with accumulating snow falling further north and east, national Weather Service forecasters say.
In general, Friday will start dry, then snow will overspread the area from west to east from late morning through the afternoon.
Across Western NY, sleet and freezing rain will mix in across the Western Southern Tier and hold down snow accumulations. Ice accumulations may reach as high as 0.25" across portions of Chautauqua County, lesser amounts with eastward and northward extent. The snow to wintry mix line may reach as far northeast as Buffalo to the southern Finger lakes during the early evening, with areas northeast of that likely remaining all snow.
"Unfortunately Friday is looking very messy across Western New York, it will be a tricky forecast," NWS meteorologist Phillip Pandolfo tells WBEN. "It is looking like, for the Buffalo metro area and points further north and east, snow is more favored, while further south, toward the southern tier, could be looking at freezing rain mixing in at times."
The snow will quickly back off in intensity by late Friday evening and continue to taper off through the night as. Some light snow, and light wintry mix across the southern tier, will linger overnight before ending by daybreak Saturday. Forecasters say it is not out of the question that precip ends as freezing drizzle in spots across WNY.
Bills-Eagles Sunday
No stadium dig-out will be necessary when the Buffalo Bills host the Philadelphia Eagles at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park Sunday, with milder temperatures forecast to prevail.
"We're expecting highs in the low 40's," Pandolfo says. "That will be accompanied with widespread rain across much of the area on Sunday."