337 FXUS61 KBUF 070158 AFDBUFArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Buffalo NY 958 PM EDT Sat Sep 6 2025
.SYNOPSIS... Cool weather with periodic lake effect rain showers will persist tonight through Sunday in the wake of a cold front. Drier weather arrives Monday as high pressure builds over the region, with a warming trend then emerging through midweek.
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.NEAR TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/... Water vapor imagery shows a large long wave trough centered over the Great Lakes southward into the mid and upper Mississippi Valley with multiple shortwave troughs cycling through the region.
The core of the 500mb cold pool will move by to our northwest tonight through Sunday. Temperatures at 850mb will continue to fall into the +3C to +5C range across the forecast area and provide support for lake effect showers. Following the brief period of mainly dry weather this evening, moisture will increase ahead of an approaching shortwave trough, which is evident with radar imagery showing scattered showers to our west and northwest associated with this feature. A southwest flow will become well aligned in the boundary layer and showers will develop east-northeast of the Lakes overnight. Rainfall amounts will be localized with most areas seeing little to nothing and lakeshore locations seeing up to 0.25". Flow will then veer directing lake showers more east to east-southeast of the Lakes Sunday, mainly through midday/early afternoon. Rainfall amounts will be localized east of Lake Ontario with some locations seeing up to 0.25". A few rumbles of thunder can`t be ruled out close to the lakeshores Sunday morning. Deeper moisture gets stripped away Sunday afternoon with lake effect activity becoming more sparse. Most of the shower activity will be confined to lake effect areas with little to nothing elsewhere. Prepare for another autumn-like day Sunday, with highs in the 60s.
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.SHORT TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Deep longwave troughing draped from eastern Canada to the Great Lakes and Northeast will gradually flatten and recede back north of the Canadian border in the Sunday night-Monday night time frame... while sprawling surface-based ridging builds from the Midwest to New England. Lingering cyclonic flow and moisture will help keep the chance of some lake effect rain showers east-southeast of Lake Ontario Sunday night...with increasing drying/subsidence attendant to the surface ridge then bringing an end to these Monday morning.
Outside of the above...our region can expect dry weather and mainly clear skies to predominate through Monday night...along with generally light winds. This will result in prime conditions for radiational cooling both Sunday and Monday nights...with this potentially enough to result in the development of some patchy frost across far interior portions of the Southern Tier and North Country on both occasions. With this in mind...have undercut blended guidance somewhat to better account for this possibility. In between...highs will remain confined to the mid-upper 60s (with lower 60s across the higher terrain) on Monday.
Tuesday through Wednesday the core of the surface ridge will slide across the Canadian Maritimes and out to sea...with lingering weaker ridging extending back southwestward to the New England and mid- Atlantic States. This will result in a continuation of fair dry weather... with the combination of ongoing airmass modification and modest warm air advection helping temperatures to rebound back to near normal levels.
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.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/... The beginning of this period will feature the passage of a cold front sometime between later Wednesday night and Thursday...as the large-scale trough over eastern Canada briefly reamplifies. This being said...this next front looks to only be accompanied by very limited moisture...which should result in it passing through our region with little fanfare. Following its passage...Canadian high pressure will settle back across the Great Lakes and Northeast through the rest of the period. This will result in more fair dry weather...with somewhat cooler temperatures Thursday and Friday perhaps starting to give way to some limited warming on Saturday.
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.AVIATION /02Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... VFR conditions will continue across the forecast area through this evening. Cold air aloft and increasing moisture will support developing lake effect showers east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for the second half of tonight through the early to middle part of Sunday afternoon. MVFR conditions are possible within the lake effect activity, mainly across KJHW and KART late tonight through Sunday morning. There could be an isolated thunderstorm, mainly close to the Lakes Sunday morning.
Widespread VFR flight conditions will return Sunday afternoon. As instability increases through the second half of the day, expect VFR diurnal cu to blossom inland of lake breeze circulations, then dissipate around sunset with the loss of daytime heating.
Outlook...
Sunday night...Mainly VFR. Localized MVFR with a chance of showers east through southeast of Lake Ontario. Localized valley fog across the Southern Tier.
Monday...Mainly VFR. Slight chance of showers and MVFR east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Tuesday through Thursday...VFR.
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.MARINE... Winds will remain elevated on Lake Erie this evening supporting a brief period of marginal SCA conditions.
After winds on Lake Erie relax late this evening, winds on both Lakes will start to strengthen again late tonight, especially on central and eastern Lake Ontario where another round of Small Craft Advisories (see below) will be on tap for Sunday into Sunday night. Stronger winds will be mainly westerly Sunday, becoming northwesterly Sunday night. With the cool airmass overhead, lake effect rain showers, thunderstorms, and waterspouts will also be possible at times. The primary timeframe of concern for these will be the second half of tonight through Sunday morning.
High pressure building over the Lakes will cause winds to subside Sunday night into Monday, becoming light by Monday evening.
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.BUF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NY...None. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until 2 AM EDT Sunday for LEZ040-041. Small Craft Advisory from 8 AM to 8 PM EDT Sunday for LOZ043. Small Craft Advisory from 8 AM Sunday to 2 AM EDT Monday for LOZ044-045.
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SYNOPSIS...HSK/PP NEAR TERM...HSK/JM SHORT TERM...JJR LONG TERM...JJR AVIATION...HSK/JM MARINE...HSK/JM/PP
NWS buf Office Area Forecast Discussion