Bomb cyclone, arctic blast, East Coast snowstorm. What impact will brewing storms have on Rochester?

After a mostly calm and mild December across much of the U.S., Mother Nature is now making up for it with a stormy January in Rochester - and there's more wild and windy weather on the way.

High wind watch issued for Rochester NY

Strong winds knocked out power for thousands in the Rochester area Tuesday evening and into Wednesday. The peak gust in Rochester was 52 mph, recorded at 7:20 p.m. at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.

While folks are still clearing branches and other debris from the wind damage, another storm is on the horizon Friday and Saturday. The Weather Service issued a high wind watch for parts of western and central New York, including Rochester for part of the weekend.

What to expect New high wind watch issued for Rochester

The high wind watch for the Rochester region runs from 7 p.m. Friday through 4 a.m. Sunday and covers Monroe, Genesee, Orleans, Niagara and northern Erie counties. A high wind watch was also issued for the same timeframe covering Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, Wyoming counties, as well as Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and southern Erie Counties.

Southeast winds that are part of a larger system moving into the Rochester area are expected to bring gusts up to 60 mph in Rochester and sustained winds between 20 and 30 mph Friday night, followed by strong wind from the southwest with gusts up to 65 mph and sustained winds between 30 and 40 mph on Saturday, according to the Weather Service.

South of Rochester, the alert predicts gusts up to 60 mph both Friday night and Saturday.

'Bomb cyclone' brewing? Will it impact Rochester NY

By Friday, cold air equivalent to true artic air will reach the central U.S., and many places will be unable to reach temperatures above zero degrees Fahrenheit by Sunday, according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. A possible "bomb cyclone" blizzard − a winter hurricane − could cause an arctic blast courtesy of the polar vortex in the Midwest next week as well as the first real East Coast snowstorm in years.

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The National Weather Service said the storm carrying the arctic air will continue to bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions and snow squalls throughout parts of the Pacific Northwest through Thursday before the system makes its way to the Midwest later this week. Snow is likely to pile up in several big Midwestern cities, including Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City. As much as 1 to 2 feet of snow is possible in some areas, AccuWeather said, making travel difficult to impossible.

As the storm looks now, it could impact parts of western New York and the Southern Tier. Wind gusts between 60 and 65 mph are predicted to impact the area on Saturday and lake effect snow is likely in the Southern Tier and Buffalo area later in the weekend through early next week, according to the Weather Service.

Specific snowfall accumulation predictions for Rochester and western New York have not been set since the predicted snow is still several days away, said Weather Service Meteorologist Kirk Apffel.

On Thursday, about an inch of snow is predicted in the Rochester area, and 2 to 5 inches is predicted in the counties closest to Lake Erie, including Wyoming County, forecasters said.

The weekend storm is expected to start off as snow in Rochester Friday night and quickly shift to rain. Rain is expected for much of Saturday until it is predicted to shift back to snow on Saturday night, Apffel said.

High temperatures in Rochester are predicted to reach the mid to upper 30s Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but will drop to the 20s Sunday through next week. The normal high in mid-January in Rochester is around 34 degrees.

Polar vortex expected to usher in arctic air in eastern US

Thanks in part to return of the polar vortex, the coldest air of the season is poised to roar across the central and eventually eastern U.S. over the next week, the National Weather Service said.

"The stratospheric polar vortex is now stretching down across North America," NOAA climate scientist Amy Butler wrote Tuesday afternoon.

How cold will it be? By Monday morning, 88% of the contiguous U.S. could see below-freezing temperatures. The bitter cold is expected to spill all the way down to the Gulf Coast, with some weather models showing the entire state of Texas below freezing Monday and Tuesday.

Wind chills are also expected to be brutal, with the weather service warning of "dangerously" low wind chill temperatures for much of the country. Temperatures for the Iowa caucuses next Monday evening are forecast to be frigid – potentially close to zero degrees across nearly the entire state, the weather service in Des Moines said.

"Now is the time to check your car batteries, they will be flying off the shelves next week," the weather service said.

An East Coast snowstorm next week?

Although it's still too early to make a specific forecast, computer models are hinting at the potential for yet another storm next week, one that might finally deliver snow to the snow-starved big cities of the mid-Atlantic, such as Washington and Philadelphia. Both cities have gone nearly two years without seeing even an inch of snowfall.

The weather service Tuesday said that there's a chance for "heavy snow across parts of the East on Jan. 16-17."

And unlike previous storms, which brought mainly rain, enough cold air could be in place for snow to fall, forecasters said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rochester NY Weather: How will polar vortex, bomb cyclone impact us?