Warm-up begins in the Finger Lakes

It is another bitter cold morning in the Finger Lakes, with low temperatures this morning in the upper single digits and low teens. That is 15-20º below our normal low temperature.It is so cold yet again this morning thanks to high pressure centered over Virginia. This high has kept our skies clear, allowing the little heat we had from yesterday to escape into the atmosphere.Warmer weather is knocking on our doorstep, however. Temperatures in Minnesota, for example, are 30º warmer than here while Oklahoma is nearly 50º warmer! Counter-clockwise winds around low pressure over northwest Kansas and clockwise winds around the high have combined to set up a broad area of southerly winds, which is transporting that warm weather north and east.So how much of this warmth will make it into the Finger Lakes? Enough to bring temperatures up to normal, but not much more than that. High temperatures today should reach the mid and maybe upper 40s. For most spots, it will still be a couple degrees below normal, but after yesterday, who is complaining? Tomorrow would be warmer, but clouds and rain showers will limit us to the upper 40s to near 50º. If any sun breaks through the clouds though, mid and upper 50s would be possible.While a huge warm up is not looking likely any time soon, neither are there any more bitter cold snaps looming on the models. For a little while at least, it looks like temperatures will settle into a normal pattern and maybe, just maybe, Spring can start to show up.