Posted 9:30 AM Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Happy Groundhog Day! In case you missed it on the news this morning, Phil says 6 more weeks of winter. However, Ohio’s Buckeye Chuck disagrees and predicts an early spring. So, we have that going for us.
Our long-duration storm has, for all intents and purposes, finally pulled away from the area. Official snowfall analysys indicates that my forecast of 4″ to 6″ was pretty good. Of course, there are spots where there was more/less snow but as a general rule, things played out pretty much as I originally thought.
After a long-drawn-out winter storm our weather transitions to a quieter period today. As low pressure exits and high pressure builds, odds for snow showers decrease as we progress through the day. We will even get into a little sunshine today from time to time. Despite some sun today and with all of that fresh snow on the ground, temperatures today will hover in the low-30s.
Wednesday won’t be much different as high pressure moves east. Temperatures will remain around freezing but at least we’ll have some sun and stay snow-free.
Chances for precipitation returns Thursday afternoon as the next low pressure system moves toward the Great Lakes region. The system will drag a cold front across east-central Ohio Thursday night/Friday morning. We can expect a mix of rain and snow showers with the front then all snow as the front exits early Friday morning. Dry air rushing in behind the front will quickly bring an end to any snow by mid-morning.
Snow accumulation locally is a crap shoot at this time. Much will depend on the amount of warm air that moves in ahead of the front Thursday night. As it stands today, rain should hold snow accumulation down to an inch or two at best. More rain would mean less snow. With a sharp gradient along the front, winds will turn gusty.
CRAZY COLD COMING
If you’re not a fan of the cold it will be best to get your weekend errands done on Saturday. Harshly cold temperatures will arrive over the weekend and continue into early next week. These will be THE COLDEST temperatures we’ve seen here in the Valley for two years. The last time we’ve been this cold was back in January 2019.
How cold it actually gets will depend on cloud cover. If skies clear out and a light breeze develops, look out below. Even a light breeze will create arctic wind chills in the teens below zero. And, even very small amounts of moisture will mean snow.
SOME GOOD NEWS
Meteorological winter comprises the months of December, January, and February. That means we’re two-thirds of the way done. There are signs of spring but they’re hard to notice unless you point them out.
This week begins a time where we start gaining daylight at the fastest rate of the year. This time is known as Solar Spring and our days get longer quickly during the period.
Sunsets in the Valley occur at 6:00 PM and later beginning on February 14. During the month we’ll add an additional 66 minutes to our amount of daylight (that’s 1 hour and 6 minutes). Radiation from the sun gets stronger each day. The sun gains over 10° of elevation during the month and by the 28th it climbs to just shy of 42° at noon.
I’ll need to add the UV Index to the hourly forecast display (located on the main page) soon!
Thanks for reading the Valley’s only local weather forecast. Be safe out there.
Thank you! Appreciate all the details of our local weather!!!
You made me smile…longer periods of daylight, by one hour six minutes. YAY!!!!
I’ll deal with the cold easier knowing we are getting more sunlight. Once again, thanks Joe!