Posted 10:00 AM Thursday, January 4, 2021
Many locations across the Valley are reporting single-digit lows to start out today. However, as weird as it may sound, rain will track into east-central later this evening. Here is a sampling of temperatures I pulled off the TuscWeather.net website this morning:
- Bolivar: ‘3.7°F’
- Strasburg: ‘1.4°F’
- Dover: ‘4.3°F’
- Downtown NP: ‘5.7°F’
- Old Town Valley: ‘8.1°F’
- Newcomerstown: ‘9.9°F’
- NP Airport: ‘5.0°F’
A warm front is tracking east this morning and that will allow temperatures to warm to the upper-30s late today across the area. Today’s warm air won’t stick around long.
We’ll stay dry through the daytime hours. Precipitation will move in from the west this evening as a cold front approaches. Surface temperatures this evening will be borderline and capable of supporting a wintry mix. Initially, precipitation may come in as a mix of rain and wet snow. And, I can’t rule out a brief period of freezing rain in some locations. All areas will change over to all rain after midnight.
Precipitation will shut down rather quickly early Friday before sunrise morning as cold dry air moves in with the cold front. We may see a brief changeover to snow showers or mixed precipitation behind the front but any accumulation locally looks minor.
The focus then turns to falling temperatures and wind. Temperatures will nosedive from the mid/upper 30s just after midnight Thursday night to the mid-20s by sunrise Friday. Temperatures will hover around the mid-20s all day. Gusty southwest wind will keep wind chill values in the low to mid-teens. Those winds will occasionally gust 20 mph to 30 mph tomorrow afternoon before backing off after sunset.
WEEKEND: COLD, BUT NOT REAL COLD
Dry weather will return Friday night and Saturday with weak high pressure aloft. Temperatures Saturday will be pretty similar to Friday with highs in the mid-20s. A disturbance aloft will move through Saturday night and bring low odds for light snow showers before dry conditions return Sunday. Nighttime lows will bottom out around the 10° area.
BIG CHILL UPDATE
There have been some changes in the much-advertised cold spell that settles in for next week and it now looks like the coldest temperatures will hold off for a while. Don’t get me wrong – it will still get cold next week. But, now things look not as cold as previously thought.
Model trends over the last 36 hours have leaned toward colder air arriving a little later in the week next week. Temperatures near average are a good possibility on Monday before we sink to briefly cold temperatures for mid-week.
How cold temperatures can get at night will depend on cloud cover. If skies are able to clear, these nighttime lows could be a little conservative.
Be safe out there.
