The agency responsible for monitoring severe weather outbreaks across the country has placed the Hudson Valley in the bullseye of potentially severe and damaging thunderstorms tomorrow. In fact, downstate New York is in the highest risk across the country.
As temperatures soar to 80 degrees across our area, which is unusual before Easter, a cold front will move in from the Great Lakes and bring temperatures back to a more seasonable mid-40s. This may trigger “damaging” winds and “marginally severe” hail in some areas of the region, said the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
Modest destabilization of the atmosphere is expected from daytime heating prior to the arrival of the cold front. As cloud heights begin to grow taller along the leading edge of the cold front, its arrival is expected to bring scattered to isolated showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. With upper level winds coming in from other directions, this could generate damaging winds embedded within the thunderstorms.
Organized, fast-moving storms and/or storm clusters appears to exist. A few stronger cells, potentially capable of producing strong to severe wind gusts, appear to be most likely across the Hudson Valley region. The risk for severe hail also exists, but is not as likely as the damaging winds.
All of the local National Weather Service offices, including Upton, Binghamton and Albany, have placed all local counties in a Hazardous Weather Outlook for tomorrow. There is an increasing likelihood that a Severe Thunderstorm Watch may be issued tomorrow.
