As spring begins, Upstate NY will get hit by a winter mix of snow, sleet, rain

Syracuse, N.Y. — The winter that never arrived suddenly won’t leave.

A wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain is expected today and Saturday across Upstate New York, continuing a cold, messy stretch of winter weather in the first few days of spring.

“A pair of low pressure systems will bring widespread moderate to heavy precipitation Friday night through Saturday,” said the National Weather Service office in Albany. “Hazards (include) plowable snows, light ice or sleet accumulations, and flooding rains.”

Snow and ice will be most likely at higher elevations, including the Adirondacks and the hills of the Southern Tier, where temperatures will be just a few degrees cooler than the valleys.

Winter weather advisories have been issued across much of Upstate New York, with more severe warnings on Tug Hill plateau and in the Adirondacks.

A pair of storm systems, both carrying plenty of moisture, are expected to converge over Upstate today: one from the north and one sliding up the East Coast.

Snow is expected to start this morning and Western New York and gradually move east, reaching Central New York by early afternoon. Cold temperatures will keep the precipitation as snow to start. Several inches could fall during the day.

Overnight, the storm from the Southeast will drag in warmer air. That means the precipitation will turn to sleet or freezing rain early Saturday morning. The rain could be heavy, with a half inch falling in a few hours.

All of that precipitation could cause icing on roads, especially before and just after sunrise.

The storms will pass through Western New York by Saturday morning, but linger into afternoon from the Finger Lakes to the Capital Region.

Saturday and Sunday will be cold, with highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s. Sunday should be sunny.

It should feel like spring again Monday, with highs in the 50s under mostly sunny skies.