Ohio settles into a cold November night Friday, with temperatures already in the 40s statewide by 9 p.m. and lows in the 30s expected nearly everywhere by morning, according to the National Weather Service. Columbus was cloudy at 49 degrees late in the evening, Toledo was cloudy at 45, Dayton was partly cloudy at 44, Akron was cloudy at 45, Cincinnati was mostly clear at 43, and Cleveland reported light rain and fog at 43. Tonight stays mostly cloudy across the north and central state, turns partly cloudy in the south, and sets up the coldest start to a weekend so far this season.
The night’s headline is frost in the south. A Frost Advisory from the National Weather Service in Wilmington is in effect from midnight tonight through 9 a.m. Saturday for Cincinnati and much of southwest and south-central Ohio, including Hamilton, Clermont, Brown, Highland, Adams, Pike, Scioto and Ross counties, where temperatures as low as 35 degrees will allow frost to form. A separate Frost Advisory from the National Weather Service in Charleston is in effect for the same hours in Lawrence County in far southern Ohio, where temperatures could fall as low as 33 degrees. The weather service says frost could harm sensitive outdoor vegetation, and plants left uncovered could be killed.
Northeast Ohio has the state’s unsettled weather overnight. Cleveland is forecast to fall to around 38 degrees with a 50 percent chance of rain, west winds of 12 to 16 mph gusting to 26 mph, and new rainfall of a tenth to a quarter of an inch possible. Akron and the rest of the northeast stay mostly cloudy and breezy with lows in the upper 30s, and that rain chance lingers into Saturday along the lake before conditions gradually improve.
Across northwest and central Ohio, tonight is cold, cloudy and mainly dry. Toledo falls to around 38 degrees under mostly cloudy skies with northwest winds gusting to 23 mph, Mansfield reaches around 36 with gusts to 22 mph, and Columbus bottoms out around 38 with west winds of 5 to 9 mph. No advisories are in effect for those regions tonight, but drivers should expect a chilly, blustery start to Saturday, and anyone heading out early will want a heavy coat.
In the southwest and southeast, clearer skies mean colder readings. Cincinnati falls to around 36 degrees and Dayton to around 37 tonight, both under partly to mostly cloudy skies, and patchy frost is expected around Dayton early Saturday. Athens, in the southeast hills, is among the coldest spots in the state at around 33 degrees under partly cloudy skies and light west winds — cold enough for frost well beyond the formal advisory area, so gardeners across southern Ohio should bring in or cover sensitive plants tonight regardless of county.
Saturday stays cool statewide, with highs only in the low to mid-50s. Toledo and Mansfield top out near 52, Columbus and Cleveland near 53, Dayton near 54, Athens near 53 and Cincinnati near 55, where patchy frost early gives way to partly sunny skies. Most of Ohio is dry Saturday, but Cleveland keeps a 40 percent chance of rain, mainly in the morning, with another tenth to a quarter of an inch possible. Northwest winds of 6 to 18 mph will keep the day feeling raw, especially in the north.
Saturday night turns even colder than tonight, and that is the weekend’s real frost and freeze concern. Lows fall to around 30 degrees in Athens, 32 in Dayton, 33 in Cincinnati, 34 in Columbus and 35 in Toledo, with patchy to widespread frost expected across central, southwest and southeast Ohio by Sunday morning. Protect plants again Saturday night. The payoff follows quickly: Sunday turns sunny with highs of 57 to 59 degrees statewide despite gusty southwest winds, Monday is sunny with highs of 56 to 62, and Tuesday warms further into the 60 to 66 degree range under sunny to mostly sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service.