Snow showers will taper off this later morning, but a gusty wind is expected again today. Dry weather should return tonight and Saturday with warming temperature through Monday.
Intermittent snow showers will slowly taper off through the morning with the loss of moisture but clouds are expected to linger through the day. The wind will ramp up again this morning and remain gusty through this evening as a result of the tight pressure gradient between a low pressure system crossing offshore from Maine and high pressure over the Midwest. The latest hi-res modeling suggests gusts in the Valley should be in the 25 mph to 30 mph range – remaining well below advisory criteria.
With continued cold air overhead and the strong NW flow, afternoon high temperatures will only top out in the mid-40s – some 10-15 degrees below our normal highs for this time of the year.
With building high pressure diminishing the clouds and wind tonight, we can expect gradual clearing sometime after midnight. Low temperatures across the area should dip to the upper 20s to around 30° by early Saturday morning.
WEEKEND WEATHER
Mostly clear skies will continue into Saturday morning thanks to high pressure just to our south. We will begin to see increasing mid/upper clouds in the afternoon from a strong storm system developing in the Deep South. Abundant sunshine and increasing warm southwest flow will help drive high temperatures locally back into the mid-50s for the Valley, which is much closer to the seasonal average.
A deepening upper-level trough across the central US will strengthen Saturday night into Sunday pushing Sunday highs into the 60s. Increasing moisture may allow for spotty, light rain showers into Sunday afternoon.
A strengthening low pressure system crossing from the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley Sunday night into Monday will bring increasing moisture into east-central Ohio Sunday evening into Sunday night. We can expect periods of moderate to heavy rainfall overspreading the Valley.
NEXT WEEK
The low will cross the southern Great Lakes Monday morning, pulling a cold front through the area. Showers may linger behind the front into Monday evening, but the northerly tracking low will keep winds more westerly, limiting lake enhancement.
The wind will be a big concern Monday as the center of low pressure moves into Lake Michigan/Lake Erie area setting up a very strong west flow. There’s a potential here for 50 mph gusts over much of eastern Ohio. High Wind Advisories are likely for much of Ohio on Monday, so you might want to take some time over the weekend to nail down anything that can blow away.
Lingering troughing behind this system will provide a couple of chances for showers through next week, along with a return of below-normal temperatures. Those colder than average temperatures will likely continue through mid-month.
