A Lot of Winter Ahead

Bitter Cold

The first weather headline of the week will be dominated by the return of cold temperatures. Lows tonight into Monday morning will be in the low single digits with outlying areas dropping below zero. Wind chills of -10 to -15 here in central Ohio with numbers closer to -20 in western and northwestern Ohio. This has prompted WIND CHILL ADVISORIES for much of the state, with the exception of the lake counties in northern Ohio and the far southeast counties. A wind chill advisory means winds will combine with cold temperatures to produce dangerously cold wind chills. Frostbite and hypothermia can occur if proper precautions are not taken. Just use common sense in this weather and you will be fine. Highs on Monday will only recover to the low teens for most of the area and drop back to the middle single digits for Tuesday morning. We begin to moderate to closer to normal by Wednesday ahead of our next weather system.

Storm #1

The first system of the week will move in on Wednesday and last into very early Thursday morning. At this time it appears the axis of heaviest snow will remain to the south of central Ohio. The southwest corner has the best chance at light to moderate accumulations. A general inch or so seems likely at this point in the Columbus metro. I will continue to monitor that system to see if an adjust north or south occurs, as this would change the snowfall forecast. 

Storm #2

The second system has the potential to be much stronger than the first and consequently have much greater impacts on the region. The timing on this storm is far from set in stone, but the Friday and Saturday time frame is what I am highlighting at this point. The models will continue to go back and forth on a solution, but several runs have shown a trend for accumulating snow in the Ohio Valley and East Coast later this week. I will watch this storm closely over the course of the week with more updates to come, but I wanted to let you know ahead of time so you could keep an eye out for further updates. 

Stay warm and stay tuned for further updates!