I suspect many folks around the Tuscarawas Valley will be hard at work today assessing wind damage to their property and cleaning up debris left behind by Friday’s powerful wind gusts. Gusts exceeded 50 mph in most locations around the region. Officially, we recorded a peak wind gust of 66 mph at the New Phila airport at 5:40 PM on Friday. And, as of 9:00 AM Saturday, there are still a lot of us without power.
The good news is that the storm system responsible for the wind damage has pulled well off to the east this morning, and winds across the Valley have settled to reasonable levels. Winds today will not be an issue, nor will we see any rain. Despite the mostly sunny skies, temperatures will remain on the chilly side with daytime highs this afternoon in the mid to upper 40s.
WIND WILL BECOME AN ISSUE AGAIN WITH THE NEXT SYSTEM
Unfortunately, another strong storm system will bring wind impacts to our area on Sunday. Gusty winds will develop Sunday morning as a warm front lifts into the east-central Ohio region out ahead of the approaching low pressure. This will push daytime temperatures into the upper-60s to low-70s on Sunday afternoon.
Southerly winds will increase once again as the system approaches. However, I’m not expecting the winds to reach the levels we saw on Friday. But wind gusts in the 30-40 mph range areawide are a good possibility.
Our area will remain in the warm sector, and winds will remain gusty through Sunday night. Temperatures should only drop to the mid to upper 50s. Rain chances will increase after midnight, with rain becoming likely by Monday morning.
The storm system will drag a cold front across the region at some point during the day on Monday accompanied by rain showers and, quite possibly, a few thunderstorms. These could pull stronger winds aloft to the surface, resulting in a damaging wind threat.
As of Saturday morning, the Storm Prediction Center does not have eastern Ohio counties highlighted, but the timing of the frontal passage is still a big question. Winds on Monday will continue to be elevated, and it wouldn’t take much instability to allow an increase in the potential for any thunderstorm to tap into those strong upper-level winds.
Whether there are thunderstorms or not, it’s a potent cold front, and temperatures will drop sharply on Monday afternoon after it crosses east. Temperatures will be in the upper-50s to near 60° before crashing to the mid-30s by sunset. Gusty wind-driven rain could transition to wet snowflakes for a time Monday evening.
Temperatures on Monday night will likely bottom out in the upper-teens by early Tuesday morning, and daytime highs on St. Patrick’s Day may not reach 30°. We might be looking at THE coldest St. Patrick’s Day on record at New Phila.
Wednesday looks to remain chilly before temperatures begin to warm up a bit to wrap up the week.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to catch up with our area’s only local weather resource. I’ll continue to keep an eye on Monday’s potential for another round of strong winds and severe storms.
Thanks Joe !! Your the only one I trust to know about the weather in are area !!! As always stay safe !!