Dry weather and seasonal temperatures are expected for the first half of the week under high pressure. Rain showers will return to end the work week.
There won’t be anything in the way of weather concerns the next few days. We will have a stretch of dry weather and sunshine through Wednesday so if you’ve been wanting to wash the car/truck, it’ll stay clean for a while.
Clouds continue to pull east this morning as a storm system that brought rain showers to the Valley over the weekend pulls away. I expect a nice late winter day today thanks to a broad area of high pressure over the Plains. We will start to see some high-level clouds move in this afternoon as an upper-level disturbance crosses well to our north. Dry air overhead will prevent any rain from developing out of this northern bump here.
Temperatures this afternoon will top out slightly cooler than the average for today. Afternoon highs will generally be in the mid-40s across the Valley.
TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY
The large high over the Plains travels east tonight and Tuesday keeping the dry weather and sunshine going over east-central Ohio. Tuesday’s temperatures will remain a bit cool but at least we’ll get into bright sunshine. It may not feel warm, but all that sun will certainly lift your spirits.
Clouds will increase again on Wednesday as that high-pressure system shifts off to the east and a strong storm system travels toward the Great Lakes region. While Wednesday will be a much cloudier day, the storm system will force some of the warmest air of the season into eastern Ohio. Wednesday should bring afternoon temperatures to the upper-50s across the Valley.
Unfortunately, along with that warm air will be increasing moisture as well. Odds for rain will gradually ramp up Wednesday night as the system approaches the upper Great Lakes. Rain showers will likely move into east-central Ohio on Thursday.
There are some slight differences between the models regarding just when precipitation enters the Valley. The GFS was lagging behind the European but the early morning run of the GFS is beginning to trend towards the European solution bringing rain in on Thursday. For now, I’ve kept the area dry Wednesday night then move rain into the area mid-morning Thursday.
FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND
Friday looks to start out dry with even a touch of sunshine ahead of another round of precipitation with a cold front. Colder air behind the front will bring thickening clouds and low odds for rain Friday afternoon and Friday night.
Colder air behind the front will knock our daytime temperatures back to the upper 30s for highs Saturday and Sunday. So far the weekend looks dry. Saturday may be the cloudier day of the weekend. Sunday looks to remain colder than average with less in the way of clouds.
LONG RANGE
Temperatures appear to remain cooler than the average midmonth through the end of the month, according to the NWS Climate Prediction Center. Precipitation is forecast to be drier than average through the same period.
