It's only Friday. There is quite a lot that can happen between now and the first system, let alone the next system later next week. We should know this...especially this season with storms going 150 miles NW within 12 hours. I'm fine with their discussion. I think it would be dumb on their part to forecast 10-20" and broadcast it on twitter and Facebook 3-5 days in advance for it to not occur. Then you see even more people saying Mets are wrong all the time, we don't need more then there already are.
Saturday
Widespread light snow Saturday night but amounts will be minor,
generally 1-2 inches.
Mon night-Tuesday
An active wintry pattern will continue, with a potential for snow on
Monday night/Tuesday and Thursday/Thursday night.
A trough across the nations mid-section will result in an active
weather pattern during the period. There are some model
disagreements, but in general runs of the GFS/ECMWF have been fairly
consistent showing two systems impacting our area. The first is on
Monday night and Tuesday when a wave of low pressure is forecast to
track across the mid-Atlantic states. This places our area on the
northern fringe of the system, but with good upper level support
(trough and jet dynamics) the area should get at least some
accumulating snow from this system. Best moisture and lift across
southern portions of the cwa, where advisory to potentially warning
amounts are possible. A few inches is the most likely outcome for
Buffalo and Rochester, but still lots of uncertainty.
Thursday
Slightly better model agreement for the next system, with nearly all
guidance suggesting there will be significant QPF in our region.
However, the system is more complex with a risk that the
surface/850mb low will track to our west. This could result in mixed
precipitation in the form of sleet or freezing rain, however given
the prevailing cold pattern the forecast favors the colder 12Z ECMWF
guidance which would keep it mostly snow.