Yesterday’s forecast played out pretty well. The changeover to snow showers last night occurred a bit later than I originally thought it would, but generally, it made little difference. Roads were snow covered for the morning commute and most areas ended up with an inch before the snow pushed east.
I did read of some local travel difficulties early this morning on social media sites. Sometimes small amounts of snow like this can have bigger impacts than we expect.
The rest of today will just be cloudy and dreary. Temperatures today will stay in the upper 20s – maybe 30 this afternoon. I can’t rule out a spotty snow shower or flurries through mid-afternoon.
A second reinforcing cold front will sink through east-central Ohio tonight to bring back the possibility of a snow shower. Any snow from this should be fairly light and I don’t expect much more than a dusting of fresh snow – if none at all.
What this second front will bring is another shot of cold arctic air and a bit of a noticeable breeze. Temperatures tonight will fall back to the low teens. With that westerly breeze, it will feel like single-digit temperatures.
Friday will be just another cold cloudy and breezy winter day across the Valley. Temperatures again aren’t going to move much with mid-teens for the afternoon high. Breezy west winds will keep wind chills at around 0°. Single digit low temperatures will return Friday night and a light lake effect snow shower will be possible as well just about any time/place especially in our northern locations.
WEEKEND WEATHER
A weak unimpressive low-pressure system will ride through northern Ohio on Saturday spreading light snow showers across the region.
It’s really a lame system and I wouldn’t expect to see much in the way of snow here in the Valley. Temperatures Saturday will generally be in the 20s then back down to the mid-teens Saturday night.
That little low-pressure system departs by Sunday leaving us with just a lingering low chance of a lake effect snow shower as the next little system approaches. Like Saturday, any snow should be light with little or no accumulation.
It looks like the bottom line is nickel-and-dime snow showers through the weekend. Accumulations should generally be light, but with the cold temperatures, everything will stick. As we already know, sometimes even a little bit of snow can cause slick spots and impact local travel.
I’ll revisit both of these little clipper systems again tomorrow, but generally they should not bring much more than an inch or so of additional snow.
NEXT WEEK
A warm front associated with the next Alberta Clipper will lift through the region on Monday to bring us a little warmer air. While we won’t see temperatures in the 40s again like we did yesterday, it will warm to around freezing. The front will also bring increasing odds for snow showers Monday and snow will be a pretty good bet by Monday night. Guidance is all over the place with the track and intensity so it would be premature to start talking about snow accumulation.
Regardless of the impacts from snow, some very impressive cold will follow behind this early week clipper. This has the POTENTIAL to bring some of the coldest air we’ve seen for a very long time.
Temperatures are going to take a nose-dive and will struggle to reach 10° by Wednesday. Tuesday night and Wednesday night will likely bring below-zero lows. These temperature projections from the GFS model are likely a bit too cold, but I use it to illustrate that yes, it will get really cold.
Again, keep in mind that these are but a model projection and are likely a bit too cold by some degree. However, temperatures close to these readings will be possible. I’m not trying to hype the weather by any means. I’m just trying to show you the extent of cold that may be in store for us by the middle of next week. Even if temperatures are a few degrees warmer it is still going to be mighty cold.
By the way, for those folks interested in such things the coldest temperatures at New Philadelphia in the last 20 years:
Personally, I’m chopping extra firewood this weekend.
