Updates Sunday:

4.34 p.m. Strong and damaging winds will be coupled with flash freezing into this evening, according to latest statement from the National Weather Service.

A wind gust of over 58 m.p.h was recorded at the Rochester Coast Guard GLOS Weather Station at 3.50 p.m. Sunday.

A 62 m.p.h gust was recorded at Rochester International Airport.

2.31 p.m. A Special Weather Statement from NWS Buffalo emphasized the danger of the peak wind gusts including the potential for extensive damage to trees and power lines.

11:49 a.m. A high wind warning remains in effect until 10 a.m. Monday. The strongest winds will be Sunday afternoon and evening.

Timing of wind gusts

Rochester area residents are forecast to feel gusts of 58 m.p.h. after 2 p.m. and gusts of possibly 70 m.p.h and over are most likely between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Travel in high profile vehicles will be difficult and a ban on empty tractor trailers and tandems on Thruway and Interstate highways goes into effect in Western and Central New York and the Finger Lakes from 10.a.m. Sunday.

Dangerous and damaging winds likely will rake the Rochester region for hours Sunday and early Monday, causing power outages, tree damage and other mayhem.

Gusts on Sunday could reach 75 mph in some areas, the National Weather Service said Friday morning, when it issued a high wind warning for much of the region. A high wind watch had been in effect previously.

The strongest winds are likely to be farther west in Erie, Genesee, Orleans and Niagara counties. In central Monroe County, the peak wind gusts were forecast to reach 65 to 70 mph.

The winds will be unusually persistent, picking up to damaging levels at mid-morning Sunday and continuing into Monday, forecasters said.

"Power may be out for several days in some areas. Shallow rooted pines will be particularly vulnerable. Property damage is also possible, especially to roofs and siding," the weather service said in warning Friday.

Winds will come from the west-southwest, then shift on Monday to the northwest.

The high-wind warning applies to parts of 16 upstate New York counties, including those west and southwest of Monroe County, plus Livingston, Ontario, Wayne and counties northeast of there.

Flooding along the eastern ends of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is likely Sunday, with shoreline flooding possible Monday in the Oswego area.

The winds could prove the strongest since the destructive windstorm of March 2017, which killed six people, derailed a train and left more than 100,000 people without power. The strongest official gust in that storm was 81 mph.

But the weather service said Friday morning that the set-up of the coming windstorm is most reminiscent of one on Jan. 9, 2008.

That storm spawned a gust that reached 75 mph — the third highest on record here — and wreaked havoc throughout the area. A weather service forecaster described that hurricane-force gust as "really a sudden thing, like a freight train." The gust, which came in the pre-dawn hours, was strong enough to momentarily lift an airliner off the tarmac at Greater Rochester International Airport.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power in the storm. One person died in a traffic accident that police attributed to a wind-related power outage.

Forecasters have been noting for days that the jet stream, the atmospheric river of air that steers weather systems across the continent, has been howling. The upper-level jet stream was measured at 225 mph over Erie County on Tuesday evening, for example.

The potentially destructive winds in the region will occur when a lower-level component of the jet stream, which the weather service said will be moving about 80 mph, will dip down toward the Earth's surface on Sunday.

More:What caused the great Rochester windstorm of 2017? The sun, believe it or not

The resulting blow could be among the worst in recent years. The strongest gust on record here is 89 mph, recorded 21 years ago followed by the 81 mph gust on March 8, 2017.

Gusts over 70 mph have been recorded here only five other times.

The wind will mar what should be an otherwise decent weekend. Saturday will be sunny with a high in the mid-40s and temperatures on Sunday will reach to near 60 degrees before a powerful cold front brings much colder air and the strong winds.

The storm will put a capper on what has been an unusually gusty February. Through Tuesday, wind gusts over 40 mph had been measured in Rochester four times, and the wind was blowing strong again Thurday morning.

The average wind speed through Tuesday, 11.8 miles per hour, was about 14 percent higher than the average speed in recent Februaries.

Parties ranging from the weather service to Rochester Gas and Electric to Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo offered ways to prepare for the windstorm:

Ensure you have batteries for flashlights and matches for candles

Bring in or secure garbage and recycling containers, grills, lawn furniture, toys, snow shovels or any other loose object outside your home

Keep mobile devices charged so they have plenty of life if power goes out

Fill up your tank with gas

If power does go out, report it to RG&E. Ensure portable generators are safely away from the home before turning them on.

Check on neighbors if the outage is prolonged

SORR@Gannett.com

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Photos from the 2017 Rochester windstorm