The powerful storm system that passed through the Midwest with blizzard conditions and heavy snow will bring similar conditions to Chicago and Michigan this morning. The storm will continue moving east into the Great Lakes today and into New England by Tuesday.
While we won’t see any heavy snowfall or blizzard here in east-central Ohio, the storm will bring some impacts – mainly in the form of gusty wind and rain. Today’s rain will eventually change over to snow showers this evening as colder air moves in behind the storm’s cold front.
For those traveling north today and Tuesday: This will bring significant snow accumulation to the snow belt regions in northern Ohio over the next few days. If you must travel north, keep up with the weather advisories and road conditions for the areas you will be moving through.
Back here in the Valley, we can expect warm temperatures this morning but take a downward trend this afternoon and evening. After a morning break in the rain, colder air and a return of moisture will allow rain to change over to snow showers this evening and tonight.
Snow here in the Valley and surrounding area should not be a big problem. There may be some short periods of moderate snowfall at times late this afternoon into this evening. Visibility may be reduced at times as those gusty winds blow the snow around, but accumulating snow will be light and spotty.
We will get into a lull with the snow showers as the storm system moves off to New England tonight and tomorrow. However, snow showers will return late in the day Tuesday as bands of lake effect snow showers dip south into east-central Ohio.
ACCUMULATION AND IMPACTS
Snow accumulation through Wednesday should be an inch or less and I do not see any big travel impacts in our region. As I mentioned earlier, this will have a much higher travel impact for the snow belt counties in northern Ohio. Some areas east of Cleveland could see a foot or more of snow.
The largest impact today, tonight and Tuesday will be gusty wind. Gusts today and tonight could reach 25 to 30 mph. They will back off some tomorrow but it will still be a windy day – and colder. Temperatures tomorrow afternoon will stay just below freezing for the high. Wind chills early Tuesday will be in the upper teens.
WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY
Occasional lake effect snow bands will continue to plague the region through Wednesday. Thursday looks like the driest day of the week before precipitation chances start to ramp back up Friday ahead of the next storm system.
Below freezing daytime highs Tuesday and Wednesday will moderate some Thursday and Friday as warmer air pushes temperatures back to the low 40s by Friday.
The next system approaches over the weekend and should be warm enough to support rain Saturday and Sunday. Colder air will then favor a much colder temperature pattern into the first part of December.
