Ohio is settling into a cold, quiet Monday night with clear to partly cloudy skies and no watches, warnings or advisories in effect anywhere in the state, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures had already fallen into the mid-40s by late evening — 45 degrees and clear in Cleveland and 46 degrees and clear in Columbus — and they keep sliding overnight under light south to southwest winds. It is an easy night for travel on dry roads statewide, with one late-night exception: patchy fog can form in low spots across southern and central Ohio after midnight and linger into the early commute.
Overnight lows run from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, according to the National Weather Service. Youngstown, at about 36 degrees under mostly cloudy skies, is the state’s cold spot tonight, with Akron-Canton near 38 and Athens near 37 under clear skies. Cleveland bottoms out around 40 degrees, Columbus around 40, Cincinnati around 41 and Dayton around 42, while Toledo, under mostly cloudy skies, stays mildest at about 44 degrees. Where skies clear and winds go calm, expect frost on windshields and rooftops by morning, especially in the northeast interior and the southeast hills.
In northwest Ohio, Toledo spends the night mostly cloudy with a low around 44 degrees and southwest winds of 3 to 8 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Northeast Ohio turns partly cloudy, with Cleveland near 40 degrees on south winds of 5 to 10 mph and Youngstown near 36. On Lake Erie, a Small Craft Advisory takes effect Tuesday morning and runs through Tuesday afternoon, so smaller boats should plan on choppy water even as the land forecast stays calm and sunny.
Central Ohio turns mostly clear overnight with Columbus near 40 degrees and southwest winds of 3 to 9 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Southwest Ohio is mostly clear as well — Dayton near 42 degrees and Cincinnati near 41. Southeast Ohio gets the clearest skies of all, and that is where the cold settles deepest away from the cities: Athens falls to about 37 degrees, and sheltered valleys in the hills can dip a few degrees colder, with patchy fog forming along the rivers before sunrise.
Tuesday is another bright, dry day from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, and it is the pick of the week for getting outside. Sunshine covers the whole state and highs reach 62 degrees in Toledo and Akron, 63 in Youngstown, 64 in Columbus, 65 in Athens and 66 in both Dayton and Cincinnati, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland, at 59 degrees, is the one spot that just misses the 60s. West winds of 6 to 10 mph gust as high as 21 to 22 mph across the northeast during the day, but nothing more than a jacket is needed after sunset.
Tuesday night stays mostly clear to partly cloudy with lows of 34 to 41 degrees — coldest again in the northeast, where Youngstown falls to about 34 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Veterans Day on Wednesday is the last mild day of this stretch for most of Ohio: highs reach 62 degrees in Columbus and Cincinnati, 63 in Dayton and Athens, 58 in Akron and 57 in Cleveland, while Toledo holds at 55 under mostly cloudy skies with a slight chance of an afternoon shower.
The turn comes Wednesday night, when rain becomes likely after 7 p.m. across most of Ohio, with chances of 60 to 70 percent, according to the National Weather Service. Rain stays likely Thursday as highs fall back into the upper 40s in the north and the low 50s in the south, and colder air arriving behind the rain brings a chance of rain mixing with snow Thursday night into Friday, when highs hold only in the low 40s. The weekend then turns partly cloudy and cool. For tonight, the guidance is simple: allow a little extra time if patchy fog is sitting in the low spots on your early Tuesday route, dress for the mid-30s to mid-40s after dark, and enjoy Tuesday’s sunshine while it lasts.
Photo: Jsjessee, CC BY-SA