A strong area of low pressure moved from the Great Lakes on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 30th towards the St. Lawrence Valley during the morning of Thursday, January 31st. A strong cold front was associated with this area of low pressure. Ahead of the storm, southerly winds allowed warm and moist air to move into the region. While it took some time for the warmer air to overtake the cold, dense air in place, temperatures warmed into the 40s and 50s during the early morning hours of January 31st.
Just ahead of the cold front, a line of heavy rain showers developed just prior to sunrise. Strong wind gusts up to 60 mph accompanied some of this rainfall as it moved across eastern New York. This caused damage to some trees and power lines, causing power outages throughout the region. Saratoga County alone had nearly 4,500 National Grid Customers without power at one point.
With the rainfall falling heavy in intensity and warmer temperatures allowing for some snow melt, some ponding of water on roadways caused some isolated urban and street flooding. A few minor ice jams developed on small streams, but any flooding issues were very localized.
Behind the cold front, winds switched to a westerly direction and continued to be gusty throughout the day on Thursday, as colder temperatures moved into the region. Additional wind gusts of 35 to 55 mph occurred during the daytime hours on Thursday, January 31st with some additional damage to trees and power lines. Winds diminished by late Thursday afternoon as the pressure gradient began to relax over the area.