Completely overcast days in summer are rare. Severe weather is not common, but a few cases of damaging winds and small tornadoes occur each year. The greatest risk of this type of activity is south of the Thruway. There usually are several periods of uncomfortably warm and muggy weather in an average summer, with nine days reaching the 90-degree mark. Still, the area usually experiences some of the most delightful summer weather in the East.
Autumn is pleasant, but rather brief.
Mild and dry conditions predominate through September and much of October, but colder airmasses cross the Great Lakes with increasing frequency starting in late October, and result in a drastic increase in cloud cover across the region in late October and early November. Although the first frosts may not occur until late October along the lakeshores, the first lake effect snows of the season follow soon thereafter. These early snows melt off quickly, with a general snow cover seldom established before mid-December. The growing seassn is relatively long for the latitude, averaging about 180 days.