Ohio is spending its Saturday morning in the 40s, and the coldest night of the season so far is on the way. Mid-morning temperatures ranged from about 42 degrees in Toledo to 43 in Youngstown, where light rain was falling, 45 in Columbus, 46 in Cleveland and 48 in Cincinnati, according to National Weather Service observations. The bigger development is an expanded Freeze Warning: in a 9:37 a.m. update, the National Weather Service in Wilmington added Franklin and Pickaway counties to the warning already covering southern Ohio, with temperatures as low as 31 degrees expected in the Columbus area from midnight tonight until 10 a.m. Sunday.
For the rest of today, highs top out between about 50 degrees in Akron and 55 in Cincinnati and Portsmouth, with most Ohio cities at 52 to 54. Northwest and west winds stay brisk in the north, gusting as high as 28 mph around Cleveland and Akron, making the low 50s feel rawer along Lake Erie, where this morning’s Small Craft Advisory for nearshore waters from Maumee Bay to Vermilion expired at 10 a.m.
The Northeast remains the wet corner of the state. Youngstown has rain showers likely, with a 60 percent chance of precipitation, Cleveland has a 40 percent chance of rain showers, and Akron has a 40 percent chance, mainly before 2 p.m., the National Weather Service in Cleveland said. Amounts stay light — less than a tenth of an inch — but with the wind, it is a damp, raw afternoon across the snowbelt and the lakeshore.
The Northwest and Central Ohio stay dry under stubborn clouds. Toledo turns partly sunny with a high near 52, and Defiance is mostly cloudy near 53 with no rain expected. Columbus is mostly cloudy near 53, then partly cloudy tonight with patchy frost after 4 a.m. and a low around 34 — and with Franklin County now inside the Freeze Warning, capital-region gardeners should plan on a hard freeze, not just frost, by early Sunday.
The Southwest and Southeast get the best of today’s skies and the worst of tonight’s cold. Cincinnati is mostly sunny near 55 and Portsmouth partly sunny near 55, while Dayton stays mostly cloudy near 54 and Athens mostly cloudy near 52, with areas of fog possible after midnight. Tonight’s lows fall to about 31 in Portsmouth and 32 in Cincinnati, Dayton and Athens, and the southern counties under Freeze Warnings from the Wilmington and Charleston, West Virginia, offices could drop as low as 30.
The weather service warns that frost and freeze conditions could kill crops and sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing, and urges residents to take steps now to protect tender plants — cover or bring them in this evening and protect exposed pipes before the drop after midnight. Elsewhere tonight, lows run from about 33 in Akron and Youngstown to 37 in Cleveland.
Sunday repays the freeze with sunshine statewide and highs of about 56 to 60 degrees, after frost and patchy fog early. Monday stays sunny with highs from the mid 50s in the northeast to the low 60s in the south, and Tuesday is the warmest day of the stretch, with highs in the mid 60s, according to the National Weather Service tabular state forecast. Highs cool back into the upper 40s and low 50s by Thursday and Friday — so enjoy the Sunday-to-Tuesday window, and get the plants protected tonight.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY