Temperatures in New Philadelphia are starting out at a relatively warm 49 degrees this morning. That’s higher than some daytime highs we’ve had this month. Those warm temperatures this morning will only get warmer as we go into the afternoon and area high temps today will reach the low to mid 70s.
The other weather feature we will notice today will be a gusty south to southwest wind in the 14 to 23 mph range. Some gusts this afternoon may reach 40 to 45 mph at times.
After showers exit east this morning and the clouds clear out, sunshine will gradually break out across east-central Ohio during the afternoon. A weak disturbance will develop later tonight and this could bring a sprinkle or two to northern portions of the Valley but for the most part it should just result in a brief period of cloudiness.
Friday will bring even warmer temperatures with most neighborhoods getting into the upper 70s for afternoon highs. The afternoon may also feature gusty wind but not as strong as those today. Sunshine will rule the day.
The area should remain dry for the most part through at least the first half of Saturday. A strong low pressure system will slowly creep east forcing a nearly stationary warm front over the Great Lakes to dip south. While Saturday won’t be a wash out, scattered showers and perhaps even a thunderstorm or two will stream north into Ohio along the front Saturday afternoon.
East-central Ohio will remain on the warm side of the front Sunday. Computer models are still not in agreement of the track of this nest system but it has shifted a bit to the north in the latest runs. In any event, the low will stream a plume of Gulf moisture into the region Sunday afternoon resulting in showers and thunderstorms overspreading into east-central Ohio.
With an abundance of available moisture this system can tap, rain could be heavy at times. Current guidance suggests one to two inches of rain would be possible so we’re going to have to watch closely for the potential of local flooding.
Temperatures will crash behind the associated cold front. Monday’s high temperature will occur early in the morning with falling temperatures through the day. By Tuesday temperatures will be back in the 40s for daytime highs.
Although temperatures will be well below average for the first part of next week we will see them recover some by mid week.
According to model ensemble forecasts we’ll still be a bit cooler than we should be for the latter part of April, but at least it won’t be in the 40s for daytime highs.
