Ohio’s mild first day of November is spending its afternoon under a thickening deck of clouds, and while the rest of Sunday stays dry for most of the state, rain chances build tonight — first in the southwest, then spreading east late. The National Weather Service has no watches, warnings or advisories in effect anywhere in Ohio. Afternoon highs are topping out well above normal for Nov. 1, with the Weather Service forecasting 68 degrees in Toledo and Youngstown, 69 in Cleveland, 72 in Athens and 73 in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati under mostly cloudy to cloudy skies.
The afternoon and early evening stay dry across northern and central Ohio, with light south and southeast winds. That makes for an easy finish to the final day of early voting and a dry trip home for most Ohioans — with one timing note: on the first day back on standard time, sunset comes early, at about 5:29 p.m. in Columbus and in the 5:20s and 5:30s across the rest of the state, so evening travel happens in darkness. The exception to the dry evening is the southwest corner, where the Weather Service expects rain to become likely in Cincinnati after 7 p.m.
In Northwest Ohio, Toledo reaches a high near 68 degrees under cloudy skies this afternoon, then stays cloudy tonight with a low around 55 degrees and a slight chance of rain between 10 p.m. and midnight. Northeast Ohio is similar: Cleveland tops out near 69 degrees and Youngstown near 68, both mostly cloudy, with lows tonight around 56 degrees in Cleveland — where a slight chance of rain arrives between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. — and around 50 degrees in Youngstown, which stays dry tonight.
Central Ohio, including Columbus, is mostly cloudy this afternoon with a high near 73 degrees and a south wind around 5 mph, then turns cloudy tonight with a low around 55 degrees and a 30 percent chance of rain after 11 p.m. Southwest Ohio shares the warmth — Dayton also reaches near 73 degrees, with a 40 percent chance of rain after 10 p.m. and a low around 55 — while Cincinnati, also near 73 degrees this afternoon, has the state’s highest rain chance tonight: rain likely after 7 p.m., a 60 percent chance, with a low around 54 degrees and new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Southeast Ohio stays mostly cloudy, with Athens reaching near 72 degrees this afternoon, a low around 52 degrees tonight and a slight chance of rain after midnight.
Tonight’s rain is light wherever it falls — the Weather Service expects amounts of less than a tenth of an inch in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati — but it does not clear out quickly. Monday keeps a chance of rain over much of Ohio: a 50 percent chance in Columbus, mainly before 3 p.m., and in Dayton, a 50 percent chance in Cincinnati before 1 p.m. where a tenth to a quarter of an inch is possible, and a 40 percent chance in Athens before 1 p.m. Northern Ohio has the lower Monday chances, at about 20 percent in Cleveland and Toledo. Monday’s highs cool into the mid to upper 60s statewide — about 66 degrees in Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo, 67 in Dayton and Athens, and 68 in Cleveland and Youngstown.
Election Day on Tuesday then turns the pattern around. The Weather Service calls for mostly sunny skies in Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Youngstown and partly sunny skies in Cleveland and Toledo, with highs rebounding to about 74 degrees in Youngstown, 76 in Cleveland, Toledo and Athens, 77 in Columbus and 78 in Dayton and Cincinnati. Athens is forecast outright sunny on Tuesday. The warmer, drier day is a brief break before the next system later in the week.
There are no travel or safety hazards in the forecast for the rest of Sunday, and tonight’s rain is light enough that roads should stay in good shape, with wet pavement the main issue for late-night drivers in the southwest and, after midnight, in central Ohio. No hazardous weather is expected by the Weather Service’s Cleveland or Wilmington offices, and spotter activation is not expected.
Photo: Rolf Dietrich Brecher, CC BY-SA