Zero degrees officially at the New Phila airport this morning, but many neighborhood stations are reporting a little colder. I had -2 at my station here a few miles south of Phila.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much that would make any big changes in the forecast over the coming days. High pressure will bring us sunshine mainly during the morning and early afternoon, but the sun will do little to warm things up for us. The best we will do today is mid teens.
Get used to the cold. It looks to stick around for at least another week to ten days.
Clouds will thicken up late this afternoon ahead of the first of two systems that will cross east-central Ohio and bring chances for snow showers. The first arrives tonight into Friday morning.
While the bulk of snowfall from this first hit will stay mostly north of the Valley, I can’t rule out some flurries or very light snow here. Impacts should be minimal, but any snow will stick.
Lake effect snow showers will get underway Friday afternoon, but we should have a dry day here in the Valley.
The second round of snow due Friday night will pack a little more punch and will probably bring enough snow to cause some travel problems locally.
With temperatures this cold even a little moisture can produce snow efficiently. So, squeezing an inch or two out of this will pretty easy to do. Plus, it will be that really light fluffy snow – easy to shovel and move around.
TIMING
Snow will begin moving in from the west 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM Friday night. By sunrise Saturday snow will have tapered off to scattered snow showers and most of that should be light.
Any leftover snow showers Saturday will exit east of the region and the bulk of Saturday afternoon snow will be lake effect mostly in northern Ohio counties.
LOCAL IMPACTS
As I mentioned earlier, this will be light fluffy snow. However, it will stick. And with these arctic temperatures road salt will be ineffective so expect snow covered roads and slick spots.
HOW MUCH SNOW?
Most neighborhoods in the Valley area should expect an inch or two. Some communities north of New Phila could end up with three inches.
I’ll also note that snow in these temperatures this will be a higher ratio snow – perhaps as high as 20/1 instead of the regular 10/1. I’ll continue to monitor but at some point I do see raising the total snowfall should ratios become more robust.
NEW YEARS EVE – NEW YEARS DAY
I’m not expecting any snow Sunday and Monday. However, temperatures will be bitter cold with most areas only reaching the mid teens for afternoon highs. Wind chills will be in the single digits, so take extra care if you have outdoor plans.
Thank you for this. Most of us truly appreciate the time you spend preparing this forecast.
Thanks for outlook and about the roads