Published 9:00 AM EST Wednesday, December 23, 2020
A winter storm will impact east-central Ohio Christmas Eve through Christmas Day.
WEDNESDAY
Considering that it’s winter, today will actually be a nice day. Becoming breezy and warm today with afternoon temperatures around 50°. South wind today around 10 – 15 mph with gusts around 20 – 25 mph. We will stay dry today with the occasional filtered sun peeking between the clouds.
Temperatures overnight will remain relatively warm – low-40s. Rain chances increase with rain becoming likely after 3 AM.
While the National Weather Service has not issued any winter weather headlines for our area yet this morning, I would expect a Winter Weather Advisory going out sometime today.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Warm with temperatures in the upper-40s to around 50° to start ahead of our cold front for the first half of the day. Rain with south winds becoming west in the afternoon. Gusts as high as 25 – 30 mph.
Temperatures will plummet during the afternoon and evening by as much as 20°/25°. Rain showers quickly transition to snow showers behind our cold front. There can be a brief period of sleet in some locations while temperatures cool and the changeover to snow occurs.
Approximate timing of the change from rain to snow is 3PM to 5PM.
Temperatures will continue to fall through the evening and overnight. Wet areas will freeze with snow accumulating on top of icy spots. Expect gusty winds and blowing snow Thursday night. The vast majority of snowfall will occur during the overnight and early Christmas day. Snow will fall heavy for a few hours and will likely accumulate quickly.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Very cold with morning temperatures in the mid-teens. Temperatures will only warm to the upper-teens to maybe 20° late in the afternoon. West wind 10 – 15 mph will keep wind chill values in the single digits.
Winds on Christmas Day will mainly be out of the west/southwest. That will keep the vast majority of lake effect snow north and east of the Valley. Any additional snowfall locally on Christmas will be sporadic lake effect squalls that might extend south into our area.
This will be light fluffy snow – not the wet heavy snow we’ve been getting up to this point. It will blow around and drift easily.
Air temperatures on Christmas night will again drop to the low to mid-teens with wind chill values near zero degrees.
LOCAL IMPACTS
Most of the impactful snowfall will occur on Christmas Eve evening and overnight. It will accumulate quickly as temperatures fall into the teens overnight. Travel will be hazardous from Christmas Eve through early Christmas Day.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
We’ll start out cold early Saturday morning with mostly sunny skies. Temperatures will begin to recover some with afternoon highs in the upper-20s to around 30°.
Sunday will be the warmest day of the weekend with highs around 40°. Clouds increase through the day ahead of the next weather system that will return snow chances to the Valley Sunday night and Monday.
I’ll keep you updated on TUSCWeather.net and on Twitter (@tuscwx) today and tomorrow with the latest for our area. Enjoy the dry and mild weather today. As always, be safe (and kind) out there.
