Published Wednesday, 01/18/2023, 1:00 PM EST
Cold temperatures and snow showers are set to move into the Tuscarawas Valley on Friday. But ahead of the snow, we will need to pay attention to a low-end threat of strong thunderstorms late in the day tomorrow (Thursday).
I know. It’s mid-January. We rarely see the potential for strong thunderstorms during the middle of winter. It’s a low threat but a threat nonetheless.
Rain showers and clouds expected overnight tonight will clear out of the region tomorrow morning. We’ll see sunshine and warm temperatures move in during the afternoon on Thursday. Temperatures locally will reach the upper-50s to around 60° ahead of a cold front approaching from the west.
The sunshine Thursday afternoon will help destabilize the atmosphere ahead of our front. A line of showers and thunderstorms will develop along the cold front and travel east across Ohio Thursday afternoon and arrive in the east-central Ohio region toward evening. Some of those evening storms could bring damaging wind gusts.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed parts of the Valley under a “Marginal Risk” (level 1 on a scale of 1-5) for severe storms mainly after 7:00 PM Thursday.
A higher risk for severe weather sets up west of the Valley where there is even a low threat for weak tornadoes. As of today, we do not have a tornado threat in eastern Ohio but there is a low-end chance of strong wind gusts.
Cold air will move in behind the front Thursday night. Rain showers will transition to snow showers so expect scattered snow showers to impact your Friday. Moisture will be limited so snow accumulation locally should be modest. From what I see in current model trends we’re looking at an inch or less of snow in our area through Saturday morning.
Strong wind gusts are the main concern Thursday evening in our area. Storms are expected to weaken as they travel east from western Ohio and they will move through quickly. I’ll continue to watch for changes with the severe weather threat but it is now just something we should be aware of.
