The Weather Vein

One of city's oldest records broken

The high temperatures at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport hit 88 degrees at 4 p.m. this afternoon, breaking the old record for the date by one degree.

The old record was set 1877, only six years after the government opened a weather bureau in Buffalo. National Weather Service personnel confirmed this was one of the oldest records in the city's recorded weather history.

--- John F. Bonfatti

It's gonna be a cool night ...

   We interrupt our communal whining about how rainy it has been this summer to bring you the following news: It's going to be cold as all get-out tonight.

   The National Weather Service says the low temperature overnight will be 47 degrees.

   That would be our first foray into the 40s in quite some time. But there's no need to start looking for your mittens; summer still has a month to go and temperatures are predicted to bounce all the way back to the mid-80s by Thursday.

   In the meantime, get out another blanket and turn off the A/C.

   --- Bruce Andriatch

Nasty stuff

   Radar screens lit up this morning as thunderstorms rolled across the western third of the state.

   The storms swept through metro Buffalo around 10 a.m., but about a half hour later, the radar showed a violent thunderstorm around Jamestown. An even bigger storm of similar intensity was centered around Dansville. There was also a line of pretty intense thunderstorm activity stretching from roughly Buffalo to Wellsville.

   The rain in Jamestown came on top of some pretty good rains in Chautauqua County overnight, so weather service forecasts remained concerned about the flood threat there.

   --- John F. Bonfatti

Messing with the weather

     With the 2008 Summer Olympics coming up, I'm intrigued by the weather headlines coming out of Beijing in recent months:

  China Planning Massive Weather Modification for Olympics.

  Beijing to Shoot Down Rain for the Olympics.

  China Moves to Enslave Mother Nature.

   China Plans to Halt Rain for Beijing Olympics.

These are stories about weather modification going on in Asia to keep the environment dry and sunny for the Olympic games. And they're not from some crackpot Web sites, the stories are appearing in respected media outlets such as CNN and the Los Angeles Times.

"Cloud-seeding is a relatively well-known practice that involves shooting various substances into clouds, such as silver iodide, salts and dry ice, that bring on the formation of larger raindrops, triggering a downpour," reports the LA Times. "But Chinese scientists believe they have perfected a technique that reduces the size of the raindrops, delaying the rain until the clouds move on."

  My question is: Where does that rain move on to?

Across the ocean and over parts of North America, perhaps, where the Midwest has been deluged most of the summer and the weather around these parts has been soggy since May.

If you subscribe to the butterfly effect -- the notion that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon can cause a tornado in Kansas -- then this major attempt at weather modification half a world away could conceivably have an impact on the skies of Western New York.

According to the USA Today report on China's bid to control the skies: "It's a bold -- and, according to international scientists, dubious-- bit of stage managing."

Anyway, Buffalo's precipitation so far this year is above average (by almost 1 1/2 inches), and it's been a somewhat disappointing summer from the standpoint of local sun worshipers.

Who can we blame for that?

     -- Rick Stanley

Weekend outlook: up and down

After a warmer and more humid night tonight, the weekend is shaping up to be a bit of a mixed bag.

Saturday looks to be hot and humid but mostly rain-free. High temperatures will be in the mid to high 80s close to the lakes to the low 90s further inland.

A cold front is forecast to sweep across Western New York early Sunday morning, dropping daytime highs a good 10 degrees from Saturday. The best chance for showers looks to be in the morning.

The weather service foresees very nice summer weather for the middle part of next week.

--- John F. Bonfatti

Brief cool down

Temperatures are about 10 degrees lower this afternoon than they were Tuesday afternoon, and the weather service forecast calls for more comfortable weather tonight and tomorrow.

The forecast also calls for the heat and humidity to return by Saturday, so enjoy the cool down while it's here.

--- John F. Bonfatti

The return of cool

After a week or seasonal or above-average temperatures, cool returns to the area this week.

A cold front swinging through Western New York today promises to bring temperatures some 10 to 15 degrees cooler than normal for this time of the year Tuesday and Wednesday. Highs aren't forecast to climb much above 60 degrees either day.

Chilly is the word for Wednesday night. Lows are forecast to drop into the mid-40s to 50. A gradual warmup into the high 60s and low 70s is exected by the end of the week.

--- John F. Bonfatti

We're getting close to the heat advisory criteria

For much of Western New York, this will be the hottest, most uncomfortable day so far this year.

While the high temperatures close to Buffalo were projected to be in the mid-70s, go a few more miles inland and temperatures were already flirting with 90 by noon.

Throw in high dewpoints, and heat index numbers were closer to 100, which is just under where the National Weather Service would issue a heat advisory.

One more muggy night is in store for much of the area. A front is scheduled to pass through Tuesday afternoon or evening, which will usher in more moderate temperatures, and abundant sunshine, for the middle of the week.

--- John F. Bonfatti

Cold nights

It got down to 42 degrees this morning at the Weather Service's offices near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

That's nowhere near the record for the date, 34 degrees, set way back in 1889, but it's a full 10 degrees below the average for the date.

Another cold overnight is shaping up, with temperatures in the Buffalo area dropping to the mid-40s. It will get warmer Friday but the warmth looks to be accompanied by precipitation Friday night into Saturday morning.

--- John F. Bonfatti

Chill out

Even at noon, the temperature struggled to exceed the mid-40s throughout most of Western New York Wednesday, 15 to 20 degrees below what we normally get this time of the year.

The artic air mass responsible for the cold is expected to slowly slide past us Thursday, with temperatures warming slightly as the day goes on.

The Memorial Day weekend is looking promising, with temperatures around 70 and sunny skies forecast for both Saturday and Sunday.

--- John F. Bonfatti