WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES & WARNINGS:

WINTER STORM WARNING in effect now.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY in effect now.

WIND CHILL WARNING in effect now.

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

  • Tonight: Rain before midnight, freezing on ground, then blowing snow, windy, low 2
  • Friday: Blowing snow, very cold, very windy, chills -15 to -30, daytime high 2
  • Saturday: Blustery, blowing flurries, below zero chills, high 9
  • Christmas Sunday: Chilly sunshine, some clouds, high 14
  • Monday: Mostly cloudy, high 22

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Early Friday Morning,

Cold temps are surging through our area just after 1am this morning with most of our area below freezing with sub-zero wind chill already in Western Ohio. Moderate to heavy pockets of rain fell last night before midnight and will likely be very slick to icy, with snow now on top of those surfaces.

Snow will fall overnight with several inches expected in the area. The lightest totals will be in the southeast at 1-2″, with 2-3″ generally near I-71, with areas north/northwest of I-71 in the 3-4″ with isolated higher total ranges.

All of this will make for fairly terrible conditions for travel between midnight through mid-morning. On top of all that, winds will start really blowing, with winds 25-30mph, with gusts at 40-45mph. This will drive down wind chills into the negative 20s by daybreak with temps just above zero.

Friday will blowing snow showers, blowing ground snow, and very cold temps. Temps will generally stay near 0 to just above during the day Friday with wind chills running -20 to -30. We will have additional snow showers blowing around overnight Friday, with temps rather steady near zero and chills at -20 to -35 in spots.

Blowing flurries will be possible on Saturday with highs in the upper single digits to near 10. We will see this massive system pushing away from our area later Saturday with winds going from gusty to breezy later in the day. Winds will stay breezy in the teens on Christmas Sunday as well, but should relax enough to allow wind chills to climb above zero late in the day.

Christmas Sunday will feature some cold sunshine, and the 4th coldest afternoon high on record of 14°. We will still be cold Monday morning with temps in the upper to mid single digits. We should climb into the lower 20s, which will seem warm by Monday under mostly cloudy skies.

Things will start turning around Tuesday, as partly sunny skies expected and highs in the lower 30s to near freezing. Temps should warm to normal to just above on Wednesday with partly cloudy skies and highs near 40.

By Thursday clouds will be rather thick, but temps will push into the upper 40s. Temps will warm into the 50s for Friday and into the New Year’s Weekend, and its not completely out of question that some folks might be able to sneak into the upper 50s to near 60 by the end of next weekend. Wild considering how cold it will be the next 72 hours.

-Dave