The National Weather Service in Binghamton has issued a High Wind Watch with West wind gusts up to 50 to 60 mph for most of central New York. We'll also see heavy rainfall with isolated thunderstorms.

The Hazardous Weather Outlook is for central New York again covers a bit of everything from a wintry mix, heavy rain, ponding on roadways, flooding, damaging winds, and isolated thunderstorms. Batton down the hatches and get ready for the ride.

The National Weather Service in Binghamton has issued a High Wind Watch, which is in effect from Wednesday morning through late Wednesday night.

* LOCATIONS...Most of Central New York, including Oneida, Onondaga, Madison, Cortland, Chenango, and Otsego Counties.

* HAZARDS...Strong winds.

* WINDS...West 15 to 30 mph, with gusts of 50 to 60 mph.

* TIMING...The strongest winds and most frequent gusts are expected to occur during the day Wednesday, and into the evening hours.

* IMPACTS...Strong winds may blow down limbs, trees, and power lines. Scattered power outages are expected.

A few heavier showers and isolated thunderstorms on Wednesday may produce locally heavy rainfall. This could cause ponding of water in urban areas, and possibly some small stream flooding.

Showers and a few thunderstorms are still expected Wednesday
morning, out ahead of the cold front. Model
sounding profiles still indicate fairly stable boundary layer
conditions Wednesday morning, with any thunderstorms likely to
be elevated in nature. Even so, brief gusty winds and heavy
downpours are possible, given the strong dynamic forcing.

An increasingly robust model signal points to the distinct
possibility of strong, gusty post-frontal winds out of the SW-W
Wednesday afternoon and evening. A deep, well-mixed boundary
layer and good sinking motion will lead to healthy momentum
transfer mechanics, as per model sounding profiles. Also,
although the best isallobaric forcing translates across
western/northern NY, Lake Ontario, and adjacent southern
Ontario, it is still pretty decent across our northern zones.
All of this, along with the desire to be well collaborated with
our neighboring offices has led us to issue a High Wind Watch
for the most of the Finger Lakes region, including the Syracuse
metro area, the Mohawk Valley, the southern Tug Hill region, and
northern portions of the Susquehanna region (Cortland, Chenango,
and Otsego). Across the far southern tier of CNY and NEPA,
gusty winds are also expected, and wind advisories may be needed
at a later point in time.

After late morning-midday highs mostly in the 50s, readings will
begin to tumble behind the front Wednesday afternoon and will
end up bottoming out in the upper teens and 20s by daybreak
Thursday. This will make for cold wind chills and a very un-
Spring-like feel. Additionally, a few lake enhanced snow showers
and flurries are also expected, generally across northern
portions of our forecast area, particularly Wednesday night.

HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Rest Of Today: Rain likely with a slight chance of freezing rain early this morning, then rain this afternoon. Highs in the lower 40s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Tonight: Rain in the evening, then showers and scattered thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 40s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent.
Wednesday: Scattered thunderstorms in the morning. Rain showers. Breezy with highs around 50. South winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph, increasing to west 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain near 100 percent.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Blustery with lows in the lower 20s. West winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 55 mph.
Thursday: Partly sunny with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Highs in the mid-30s. West winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.
Thursday Night: Snow likely. Lows in the mid-20s. Chance of snow 60 percent.
Friday: Snow and rain likely. Highs in the upper 30s. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.

IF YOU LOSE POWER:

National Grid's Power Outage Map shows where the downed power lines are and what they're doing to fix the situation. If you come across a downed power line, always assume it's live, as it could save your life. You can report or check a power outage they even give you a summary of the weather and remind you about carbon monoxide poisoning, also known as the silent killer. 

National Grid offers several ways to keep up to date:

Receive text alerts

Sign up for National Grid state-level broadcast text alerts by texting the word STORM to NGRID (64743)*.

Outage news & updates

Receive local power restoration text alerts by texting the word SUM followed by your town, county, or state to NGRID (64743)*.

For example, if you live in Utica simply text SUM Utica.

Email notifications

Sign up for email alerts during storms as well as access to outage reporting and more.

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Winter Weather Preparation:

  • Keep your cell phone charged and make sure you know where your backup power supply is.
  • Make sure all your flashlights have fresh batteries.
  • Fill your gas tank. You can use your car to keep warm and recharge devices.
  • Have some food available that you don’t need to cook.
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