Ohio’s Saturday turned gray from one end of the state to the other by early afternoon, as the morning’s breaks of sun gave way to a solid cloud deck and temperatures held nearly steady in the lower and middle 40s, according to the National Weather Service. Columbus was cloudy near 42 degrees at mid-afternoon, feeling closer to 36 with west-northwest winds around 10 mph gusting to 18. Northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph are common across Ohio for the rest of today, and the National Weather Service has no watches, warnings or advisories in effect for the state.
The exception to the dry, gray pattern remains the Lake Erie snowbelt in the northeast. Inland Ashtabula County keeps showers this afternoon with the chance of rain near 100 percent, near-steady temperatures in the lower 40s and northwest gusts up to 25 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland. Along the Ashtabula lakeshore, showers are breezy with a 90 percent chance of rain, mid-40s temperatures and northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph. Drivers on Interstate 90 and lakeshore routes should expect wet pavement and gusty crosswinds through the evening commute hours.
In northwest Ohio, Toledo holds near-steady temperatures in the mid 40s this afternoon under mostly cloudy skies, with northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland. Bowling Green, Fremont and Findlay are likewise mostly cloudy in the mid 40s. Farther south in central Ohio, Kenton, Marion and Delaware are cloudy in the lower 40s, and the National Weather Service in Wilmington expects the cloud cover to stay locked in through tonight across the region.
Southwest and southeast Ohio share the same gray afternoon. The Miami Valley, including Troy, Piqua and Springfield, sits in the middle 40s under cloudy skies with northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. Conditions stay dry for the rest of today across the southern half of the state, making for a workable, if chilly, afternoon for outdoor plans — a jacket earns its keep with wind chills running several degrees below the thermometer.
Tonight stays cloudy almost everywhere. Lows fall to the middle 30s across northern Ohio, the lower 30s in a few spots near the lake plain by Sunday morning, and the upper 30s across central and southern Ohio, according to the National Weather Service. Western and central counties pick up a slight chance of showers after midnight — about 20 percent around Kenton, Celina and Dayton, rising to a 30 percent chance around Urbana and Springfield. In the northeast, rain and snow showers stay likely tonight, with a 70 percent chance inland in Ashtabula County and 90 percent along the lakeshore, on lows in the middle 30s.
Sunday is the last day of this pattern before high pressure takes over. The snowbelt keeps a chance of rain and snow showers Sunday morning that tapers to a slight chance of rain in the afternoon, with highs in the upper 40s, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland. The rest of Ohio stays cloudy to partly sunny, with highs in the middle 40s around Columbus and Dayton and the upper 40s around Toledo, and lighter northwest winds around 5 mph. Sunday night turns partly cloudy with lows in the lower to middle 30s.
The week ahead then warms up in a hurry. Monday brings clearing skies and highs around 50 to the lower 50s, Tuesday is sunny in the middle 50s, and Wednesday reaches the upper 50s under mostly sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service. Highs climb to around 60 and into the lower 60s by Thursday and Friday across much of Ohio, with the northeast lakeshore a few degrees cooler in the upper 50s. No hazardous weather is expected through the workweek, so the main travel note is tonight’s wet, gusty stretch along Lake Erie.
Photo: Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA