Ohio starts Thursday, Oct. 29, under clear skies in every corner of the state, and the National Weather Service expects sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures to take over for the full day ahead. The Weather Service office in Cleveland reported clear conditions statewide in its 3 a.m. regional roundup, with early-morning readings of 50 degrees in Columbus, 48 in Toledo, 53 in Akron-Canton, 56 in Dayton and 53 at Cincinnati, while Cleveland’s lakefront station was the warmest spot in Ohio at 59 degrees. No watches, warnings or advisories are in effect anywhere in Ohio this morning.
In northwest Ohio, the day begins cool and clear — 49 degrees in Defiance, 51 in Findlay and 53 in Lima — before sunshine warms the region into the mid-70s this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Southwest winds pick up to about 6 to 11 mph, and rain chances stay at or near zero from Toledo down through Lima, a dry, bright day for harvest work and travel across the northwest.
Northeast Ohio shares the same sunny pattern, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts a sunny Thursday with a high near 76 in the Akron area and southwest winds of 6 to 11 mph. Cleveland, where Hopkins Airport reported 57 degrees and clear skies early this morning, Youngstown, which was partly cloudy at 54, and the rest of the lakeshore from Lorain to Ashtabula all warm into the mid-70s under sunshine, well above the average high of 57 degrees the Weather Service notes for this time of year in the Akron area.
Central Ohio warms quickly from a clear, calm 50-degree start in Columbus, with the National Weather Service calling for a sunny day and highs in the upper 70s across the Columbus area. The southwest is just as warm: Dayton and the Cincinnati area, both clear in the 50s early this morning, turn sunny with highs in the mid- to upper 70s and southwest winds, and Hamilton — the state’s coolest early reading at 44 degrees — rebounds sharply once the sun is up. No rain is expected in either metro.
Southeast Ohio’s one early wrinkle is patchy fog in the river valleys this morning, which the National Weather Service office in Jackson, Kentucky, noted could bring localized poor visibility early before conditions improve. Otherwise the southeast follows the statewide script — sunshine, light winds and highs in the 70s from Athens and Marietta down to Portsmouth and Gallipolis — and the Weather Service lists no watches, warnings or advisories for the region.
Tonight stays dry everywhere, according to the National Weather Service, with skies mostly clear in the early evening before clouds increase later, and overnight lows around 50 degrees as southwest winds of 5 to 8 mph turn northwest after midnight. Friday then turns cooler behind that shift but stays sunny, with highs near 67 in the Akron forecast and in the upper 60s in Columbus, a north breeze, and mostly cloudy skies Friday night with lows dropping into the 40s — the chilliest night of the stretch in the northeast, where the Weather Service puts Friday night near 42.
Halloween on Saturday looks dry and comfortable for trick-or-treaters, with the National Weather Service forecasting mostly cloudy skies, highs in the mid- to upper 60s and Saturday-night lows in the upper 40s to around 50, with no rain in the Halloween forecast. Sunday stays mostly cloudy with highs near 70 before the long dry run loosens: the Weather Service brings in a chance of showers Sunday night at 30 percent, rising to 40 percent Monday and 50 percent Tuesday, with highs in the upper 60s. Until then, the only travel note is this morning’s river-valley fog in the southeast — everywhere else, Thursday is a sunny, well-above-normal fall day from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
Photo: David Ohmer, CC BY