Wet mix to start Wednesday for parts of Central Ohio

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, showers to wet snow showers late, low 32
• Wednesday: Morning wet snow showers, then clearing later, high 46
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, high 50
• Friday: Clouds increase, pm rain, falling temps, high 50
• Saturday: Breezy, scattered flurries, very cold, high 27

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Tuesday Night,

It has been a cool day today with temps running almost a half dozen off the normal. We are going to see clouds fairly thick overnight tonight, with a weather system moving up from the south-southwest of us. This will bring in rain showers well after midnight and before daybreak on Wednesday. Lows tonight will dip to around freezing by daybreak.

On the northwest side of this system (just east of I-71) it appears that we will have some wet snow showers mixed in with the rain showers to start the day on Wednesday, before this system starts to push off to the east. It appears that much of the area from near I-71 and on east will see between a dusting to upwards of a half inch of snow. However, temps on the ground are relatively warm, and the air temp will be near freezing, along with rain falling, so totals will appear to be less.

As the system scoots east, we will see some clearing from west to east during the day and highs recovering back up into the middle to upper 40s, pretty close to normal. Thursday night will be cooler with clearing skies and lows in the mid to upper 20s. Expect more sunshine on Thursday and highs in the lower 50s.

Friday will start near freezing and warm to near 50 in the late morning/early afternoon before rain starts to move in and puts a lid on the warming. The exact timing of the rain will determine how warm it gets, so the earlier arrival to the west will mean highs in the 40s, and the later arrival in the east will allow mid to upper 50s. Rain showers will quickly cool Friday night with snow showers moving in overnight with lows falling into the 20s.

Because of the colder temps overnight and into Saturday, I do expect that we will have some light accumulations of snow to start the day on Saturday across the parts of our area. Temps will be a real mess on Saturday, nearly 50 degrees colder than last Saturday, with blowing snow showers. With breezy to gusty winds, wind chill factors should remain in the middle teens at best on Saturday, making it feel nearly 60 degrees colder than last Saturday.

Saturday night might be the coldest night of the rest of winter, as temps will plummet into the lower to middle teens with clearing skies. The winds will reverse on Sunday and start to transport in less cold air. Temps will push back to the middle 40s with more sunshine, and a breezy afternoon. We will be above normal to start next work week as clouds increase on Monday in the middle 50s.

We will remain mostly cloudy next Tuesday in the mid 50s again.

-Dave