A cold front extending from a low pressure system moving through Canada is set to push through eastern Ohio late tonight or early Thursday morning. This will raise the prospects for some light snow showers developing during the Thursday morning commute.
Moisture with this system is fairly limited, so we can expect snow amounts to be meager – well under an inch for the Tuscarawas Valley area. Still, snow ratios will be on the order of 15:1/16:1, so it won’t take much moisture to produce a fluffy coating of fresh snow.
While this definitely won’t be the biggest snow producer, but just like Tuesday’s snow event, it comes at a bad time – the morning commute. And, the air behind the cold front will be plenty cold enough for precipitation falling as all snow. And, it will stick.
Winds will shift to become northwest and increase behind the front to around 10 mph. Gusts can be as high as 20 mph at times, so expect blowing snow as well. The northwest shift will also introduce some lake enhancement to the snow showers.
High pressure will allow skies to clear Thursday night, and winds will turn calm. Cold arctic air behind the front – probably coldest we’ve seen this season – will allow temperatures to drop to the low teens, and quite possibly single digits early Friday morning. (The record low in New Phila on December 5 is 2° set in 1966.)
Although there are model differences with the placement of the low on Friday, odds favor dry weather. We’ve kept a small chance for scattered snow or flurries in the forecast until later model runs come into better agreement.
Generally speaking, temperatures are likely to remain cold and well below normal through the weekend and into early next week. Although no big event snowstorms are lurking, there certainly will be some nickel-and-dime snow events now and then with the consistent cold in place.
