WEATHER UPDATE: Freeze Watch, Warning Issued for Hudson Valley

Written by BRIAN MCCREADY (Patch Staff)

From the look of the National Weather Service’s forecast for the Hudson Valley, you’d think we’d be getting ready for a major snowstorm as several special statements, warnings, and Hazardous Weather Outlooks have been issued for the entire weekend.

We’ll break it down, but what it really means is we’re facing freezing conditions this weekend, especially Sunday night.

For most of the region, especially southern Westchester, a “Freeze Watch” is in effect from late Sunday night through Monday morning. The “Freeze Watch” that was in effect for Saturday night has been cancelled by the National Weather Service.

According to the Saturday morning weather update, the NWS writes,”HAZARDS...BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES SUNDAY NIGHT.

* TIMING...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS...SENSITIVE VEGETATION AND OUTDOOR PLANTS MAY BE DAMAGED
OR KILLED DUE TEMPERATURES AT OR BELOW FREEZING.

And there’s a “Red Flag Warning” for Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties for dry conditions Saturday. So if it’s not too cold for you to go outside, be on the alert for the chance of fires popping up, the weather service writes.

“A dry air mass will combine with increasing northwest winds...low humidity and no measurable rain during the past week to create conditions more conducive for fire spread from late this morning until sunset today.”

Winds will increase from 15 mph to up to 25 mph, which could help spread a fire.

Forecast details: Temperatures will be in the low to mid 50s and skies will be sunny today, and around 50 degrees and sunny for most of Sunday.

Temps will dip to the mid 30s tonight throughout the region and to around 30 degrees on Sunday night.

Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.

Patch file photo.