Foggy Start To Flood Watch In Hudson Valley

Friday brings us first fog and then heavy rain — up to 3 inches could fall in some areas, the National Weather Service says. Meanwhile, commuters in the lower Hudson Valley are hampered by morning fog, dense at times.

The NWS says it's a condition across the whole tri-state area, and warns that at times visibility could be greatly reduced.

Areas of fog with a visibility of mostly one half to one mile will continue across the entire tri state area this morning. There will however be some areas where visibility will be reduced to a quarter mile or less by the fog. The visibility may vary significantly in just a short distance. Motorists need to be alert for sudden changes in visibility. Allow extra space between you and the vehicle ahead of you and only use low beam headlights.

A Flood Watch went into effect at 6 a.m. Friday. It will continue till noon on Saturday for Orange, Rockland, Putnam, Westchester:

Temperatures are forecast to warm well into the 50s to around 60 today. A period of moderate to locally heavy rain will also move through the area Today into Saturday. Rainfall amounts of 1 and one-half to 2 and one-half inches with locally higher amounts up to around 3 inches are expected during this time. The combination of melting snow and periods of rain should allow rivers and streams to rise, breaking up the ice, and potentially allowing ice jams to form. Rivers and streams could see sudden rises in vicinity of these ice jams.

A Flood Watch ends at 1 p.m. Saturday in Dutchess and Ulster:

A combination of moderate to heavy rainfall, snow melt and potential ice jams may cause flooding on rivers and streams. In addition, some flooding of urban and poor drainage areas is likely, especially where drains are clogged by debris. Rivers and streams could see locally fast and significant rises in the vicinity of any ice jams.

Temperatures are near 50 degrees and rising. That's just three days after we broke 32 degrees, with temps rising above freezing for the first time in 15 days.

"We could be near 60° in some spots on Friday… a temperature increase of roughly 70° in 5 days," said Bill Potter of Hudson Valley Weather. "But that’s what you get during an active winter pattern, with dramatic shifts in the jet stream leading to wild temperature swings."