This last weekend of 2019 will be a balmy one here in the Valley. Improving weather conditions will highlight tonight as weak high pressure builds over east-central Ohio. Clouds will persist into Saturday but we should see a dry day with occasional sunshine. Although afternoon highs will be a bit cooler than today, Saturday will be the pick day of the weekend.
A large storm system will develop in the Plains on Saturday then travel into the Midwest on Sunday. The storm will become quite a winter event for the Plains and upper Midwest over the next few days. Back here in our area, the system will lift a warm front through Ohio setting up east-central Ohio for another unseasonably warm day on Sunday. Along with that warm air, ample Gulf moisture will pump into the region. Light rain Sunday morning will become widespread throughout the day as that warm moist air flows in ahead of the system’s cold front.
With ample available Gulf moisture available, rainfall could be moderate to heavy at times Sunday and Sunday night. Before this system gets through the area we could see around three-quarters to 1.25 inches of rain locally.
Despite the rain on Sunday, temperatures will be downright balmy and muggy. Highs on Sunday will top out at around 60° in most locations.
Spotty rain showers will remain a possibility through Monday. The system’s cold front will move through east-central Ohio on Monday bringing an end to those spotty shower chances. Temperatures closer to seasonal averages are likely Tuesday and Wednesday behind the front. Snow and rain chances will stay predominantly in the snow belt counties in northeast Ohio.
Fair weather will return to the Valley Wednesday and Thursday under high pressure. Thereafter, computer models disagree with the track of the next storm system developing in the southwest. The European model brings low pressure northeast which would bring moisture and rain chances back to the region. The GFS model keeps moisture in the southern half of the country limiting any impacts from the system in our area.
Overall temperature trends bring warm conditions back to the region by the latter part of the week.
