A warm front will lift northward through Ohio Friday afternoon. Although a shower or storm will be possible locally late in the day, the majority and strongest convection should focus mainly north of the Valley and closer to Lake Erie through the early evening. Showers and thunderstorms will weaken as they continue south toward I-70 tonight but a strong storm cannot be ruled out locally. Strong wind gusts will be the main threat but hail is also possible.
LOCAL TIMING (based on New Philadelphia)
SATURDAY
Low pressure will travel across the central Great Lakes region tonight and pull a cold front across eastern Ohio on Saturday. Odds favor scattered thunderstorms affecting our area at some point during the day tomorrow. Cloud cover and (potential) outflow boundaries from any early morning convection will be the limiting factor on the strength of activity in our area. That being said, the Storm Prediction Center continues to highlight our area for a low-end severe threat on Saturday – mainly in the afternoon and evening.
Damaging wind gusts is the primary concern Saturday with large hail a lesser threat. The threat for tornadoes is very low.
Odds for thunderstorms will diminish Saturday night but showers will likely linger into Sunday morning. Skies should gradually clear and allow for sunshine to return by mid-afternoon Sunday. High pressure will provide for dry weather locally through mid-week.
What do you make of this Sahara dust possibly getting to us this weekend?
It will make some colorful sunsets! Seriously, though, the dust is high in the atmosphere, and other than making for some hazy sunshine, we won’t see much if any impact.