Late season snowfall overnight into Wednesday for Columbus and central Ohio

April has had afternoons in the lower 80s, temps running nearly 3° above normal, and started with some light snow showers after the 1st completely snowless March on record in Columbus.

Now we have more snow on the way with some very chilly temps too.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

A weak front is going to push south and sag across our area tonight into Tuesday. Temps should end up being about 10° cooler on Tuesday, with more sunshine south more clouds north. We will see energy moving into our area by Tuesday night. Its possible near the boundary we could see bits of light moisture, but showers only.

Tuesday night before midnight we could see some light wet snow mixed with rain showers north, especially in the higher elevations in the northwest.

As we get closer to midnight the colder air will start to progress east a little quicker and we will see more snow shower activity to the northwest.

In the next few hours the rain showers will progress to near the I-71 corridor, but the coldest air will still lag, where snow showers will be in the northwest still.

By 4am the rain snow mix line will be along and just east of I-71, including here in the city. The key with this is we will have fairly mild road surface temps which should remain well above freezing. However, since the snow is falling overnight, and after the ground has cooled, if we can get a quick burst of more moderate snow, we could have some slush on the roads.

By daybreak, the moisture that pulls east should remain as cold rain showers, with snow showers remaining to the west and north of I-71/I-70.

By 8am we are now 75 mins past sunrise, and even with a very chilly airmass we should start to see the precip. having a difficult time remaining as snowfall except to the north. Between 8a-10a as the sun starts to get higher up, we should see the changeover from snow showers to rain showers.

Most of the activity should be quite light by 10am with some flurries and lighter drizzle possible.

By noon, we should see a few rain showers remaining in the southeast, with a colder breeze out of the northwest. Highs will only reach into the middle 40s on Wednesday, with wind chills staying in the 30s all day.

In fact, parts of our area, mainly west and northwest, are already under freeze watches and warnings for early Wednesday morning. This could be the period that not only sensitive plants/veggies/flowers need to be covered, but also pipes/hoses too!

HOW MUCH SNOWFALL BY WEDNESDAY:

It is important to remember that the road surface temps are quite warm, especially due to sunshine, and the fact its nearly a month into Spring. Most of the snowfall accumulations will be in grassy surfaces, metal roofs, tops of cars and so on.

If these numbers verify for Wednesday, that 1/5″ would tie for the 3rd heaviest snowfall for the date, and only the 11th time on record we have had measurable snowfall on or after April 21st in the spring in Central Ohio.

Keep the gear handy to clear off the car, and make sure to stay bundled up for a cold and blustery Wednesday.

-Dave