Upper level low pressure sinking south will bring scattered snow showers to east-central Ohio today and tonight. Although snow today will generally have a low impact on our area, some of these could be squally enough to cause visibility problems if you’re out and about – especially during the mid to late afternoon and into this evening.
Here’s a look at the FutureCast radar from the hi-res model at 5:00 pm today:
As for accumulating snow, we shouldn’t see much and most neighborhoods will end up with an inch or so at best. The only exception would be those locations that happen to get under a squall. A fairly intense squall could add another quick inch of snow in a short period.
As for temperatures today, don’t expect much. Highs this afternoon will only reach the mid 30s in most places as cold air dips southward with the low. A breezy west wind today will only make it feel colder with wind chills in the low 20s.
Scattered snow showers will continue tonight with temperatures dipping to the low 20s.
Snow showers should taper off early Wednesday morning but it will feel more like a mid January day despite some afternoon clearing and peaks of sun. Temperatures in the 30s will be accompanied by gusty west winds around 15 mph. Gusts may be as high as 20 mph or so. Wind chills tomorrow could stay in the teens for the better part of the day.
HOW MUCH SNOW?
The good news is that this is mid March and the sun angle is similar to what we have in mid October. Any snow we end up with will not stick around very long.
Generally speaking, most neighborhoods around the Valley should end up with an inch or snow today through Wednesday with perhaps isolated areas in the northern half of the county getting two inches – depending on where any squalls happen to set up.
Keep in mind that this will not come all at once, so except for an occasional whiteout in a squall, travel impacts for the Valley should be low.
IMPROVING WEATHER THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
Gusty winds will continue Wednesday night and Thursday but these should start to diminish late Thursday as our upper level low pushes off to the east. Thursday will also be the warmest day of the work week with afternoon temperatures in the low 40s – still a handful of degrees colder than normal.
Our computer models now show another cold front crossing the region Thursday night. It will bring us a chilly Friday with temperatures in the mid to uper 30s despite the sunshine peaking through the clouds. Thankfully, those gusty winds will have backed off considerably.
WARMER WEEKEND
Things look to settle down for us over the weekend as high pressure builds for Saturday and Sunday. We will even get in to some warming over the weekend but not as much as I anticipated in yesterday’s blog. That second surprise cold front that popped up will cut into our warming over the weekend considerably.
Expect mostly sunny skies on Saturday with highs in the upper 40s to near 50. More sun on Sunday and a little warmer with afternoon temperatures climbing to the mid 50s.
LONGER RANGE
If you’re like me you-re getting anxious for some nice warm spring weather. While we will warm up slightly over the weekend, this probably won’t stick around or be THE sign of spring we’ve all been waiting for.
I really do not see any clear signals on ANY computer model or climate modeling of any decent springlike weather in the next couple/few weeks.
Spring will eventually get here, but like last March, it’s going to be a little later than usual.
