Ohio heads into the overnight hours under cloudy skies, and light rain building in the southwest spreads slowly east while northern Ohio stays mostly dry. The National Weather Service has no watches, warnings or advisories in effect anywhere in the state. Cincinnati has the best chance tonight, with rain likely after midnight at 60 percent and amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible, with a low around 54 degrees.
The rain reaches the rest of southern and central Ohio late. Dayton has a 40 percent chance after 10 p.m. with a low around 55 degrees, Columbus has a 30 percent chance after 11 p.m. with a low around 55, and Athens, in Southeast Ohio, has a 30 percent chance after 11 p.m. with a low around 52. Amounts stay light, at less than a tenth of an inch.
Northern Ohio largely sits this round out. Toledo has only a slight chance of rain between 10 p.m. and midnight, at 20 percent, with a low around 55, and Cleveland has a slight chance between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., also 20 percent, with a low around 56. Youngstown stays mostly cloudy and dry, with the state’s coolest low, around 50 degrees.
Monday keeps the split. Southern and central Ohio carry the day’s rain chances in the morning: 50 percent in Columbus, mainly before 3 p.m., with a high near 66 degrees; 50 percent in Dayton, with a high near 67; 50 percent in Cincinnati before 1 p.m., with a high near 66 and a tenth to a quarter of an inch possible; and 40 percent in Athens before 1 p.m., with a high near 67.
Northern Ohio has a drier Monday. Toledo is mostly cloudy with a high near 66 degrees and only a slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., Cleveland is mostly cloudy near 68 with a slight chance after 5 p.m., and Youngstown is mostly cloudy near 68 with no rain mentioned. Monday night brings a fresh chance of light rain to the north before midnight in Toledo and Youngstown and before 1 a.m. in Cleveland, about 30 percent in each city, while central and southern Ohio turn drier, with lows of 51 in Athens, 55 in Columbus, 56 in Cincinnati and 57 in Dayton.
Election Day on Tuesday remains the week’s bright spot. The Weather Service calls for mostly sunny skies in Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Youngstown, partly sunny skies in Toledo and Cleveland, and sunny skies in Athens, with highs of about 74 degrees in Youngstown, 76 in Toledo, Cleveland and Athens, 77 in Columbus and 78 in Dayton and Cincinnati. No rain is expected during the day anywhere in Ohio.
There are no travel hazards tonight beyond wet pavement where the light rain falls, first in the southwest and then, after 11 p.m., in central and southeastern Ohio. Northern drivers should have a dry overnight. Tuesday’s break does not last: a stronger system brings widespread rain Wednesday, with chances of 80 to 90 percent in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati and rain likely in the north and southeast as well.
Photo: Jason Zhang, CC BY-SA