Posted Friday AM, April 30, 2021
All of our lawns, gardens, and freshly planted crops are happy this morning. We finally managed to get some much-needed rain. As any of our local farmers and gardeners will tell you, it was starting to dry out substantially here in the Valley. Depending on where you live, yesterday’s rain amounted to about an inch to 1.5-inches. Our area will still fall short of normal rainfall for the month by about an inch.
We’re starting out a little cooler this morning after last night’s cold front. Temperatures today will stay on the chilly side for late April in the Valley with afternoon highs only getting to the upper-50s. The average high for April 30 in New Phila is 68°.
There can be a brief period of showers this afternoon as an upper-level disturbance slides southeast through east-central Ohio. The best opportunity for our area is between 12:00 PM through 4:00 PM. And, it going to be windy as well with winds out of the northwest at around 15 to 20 mph. Some gusts could reach 35 mph as those showers move in this afternoon. Both the wind and rain chances will lessen as we move toward evening.
FROST/FREEZE POSSIBLE TONIGHT
High pressure will move in overhead through the evening and we will see skies continue to clear out as colder air takes control. The wind will subside this evening and tonight and skies will become clear allowing temperatures to drop to the low-30s. Folks who have flowers and gardens started will need to cover them. Frost will be possible tonight.
WEEKEND WARMING TREND
In a word… G-R-E-A-T. Saturday morning will start with patchy frost and cold temperatures but we will quickly warm to the mid-60s in the afternoon. This is still a little shy of our normal 68° for the First of May. However, the cooler temperatures will be offset by abundant sunshine in the afternoon.
We’ll stay dry Saturday night with lows in the mid-50s. Sunday also looks dry and mostly sunny for Art on the Alley in New Phila. It will be the warmer day of the weekend with daytime highs in the mid to upper-70s. Places south of New Phila will likely warm a degree or three more. We’ll see a few more clouds than Saturday due to the warmer air overhead and an approaching weather system.
EARLY NEXT WEEK
It’s a bit far out to get specific but a couple of systems will likely bring unsettled weather to the Valley to kick off the first week of May. The first low pressure system will push through the area fairly quickly on Monday. Rain will likely accompany the system with chances for rain increasing Sunday night. Showers will persist through Monday before the low gets kicked out of the area Monday night.
Another low will move into the lower Ohio Valley to bring the second round of showers Tuesday and Wednesday. How much rain and how steady it becomes is still not quite clear at this time.
A moist and unstable air mass will set up overhead for much of next week. We will need to keep the threat of showers and storms in the forecast each day. The NWS WPC suggests rain through next Friday could amount to an inch or so.
Temperatures Monday and Tuesday should stay in the low-70s. Wednesday we’ll see temperatures get knocked back to the mid-60s.
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
There are no indications of severe weather for eastern Ohio over the next 5 days.
Thanks for reading our area’s only locally-produced weather forecast. Have a great weekend and be safe out there.
