Heavy lake effect snow, high winds and frigid temperatures are combining to make for a miserable commute for a number of Rochester area drivers on Thursday. A number of spinouts and accidents were reported.
On Wednesday, the issue was mainly to the west and southwest of the Rochester metro due to lake effect snow off of Lake Erie.
But on Thursday morning, the Lake Ontario snow machine kicked into high gear, and National Weather Service Meteorologist Jon Hitchcock says the morning snow band is expected to drop about 2 to 4 inches of snow on the Rochester area; there will be a break in the snow midday, but then expect another lake effect snow band to come in the afternoon.
"It's going to be very slippery today the temperatures are pretty cold so it will take a while for salt to work, it's also very windy too, this first squall will have wind gusts of 30 to 40 miles an hour , the second squall, this afternoon, even worse, 40 to 50 miles an hour; it'll cause whiteout conditions at times as they move through,” Hitchcock told WXXI News.
Hitchcock says with temperatures in the teens, the wind chill will be around zero or just below zero at times.
There is a winter weather advisory for several counties including Monroe, Livingston, Ontario and Genesee into early Friday morning.
There is also a blizzard warning for a portion of Wayne County until early Friday.
Temperatures will moderate somewhat on Friday, into the 20s, and by the weekend, it will be dramatically different, with temperatures into the 40s and some rain on Saturday, and then turning somewhat colder on Sunday.
