Drier Sunday ahead of wet finish to 2021 for Columbus area

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Today: Clouds thin, light breezy, high 48
• Tonight: Rain after midnight, mild, low 40
• Monday: Wet & warm, high 58
• Tuesday: On/off rain, some heavy, high 48
• Wednesday: Mostly cloudy, quite mild, high 54

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Sunday,

Morning temps already eclipsed our normal daily high the day after Christmas as numbers started nearly 10 degrees above normal in the upper 40s and dropped to the middle 40s by daybreak. Temps will slowly climb through the rest of the day into the upper 40s with clouds thinning out a bit through the day.

This pattern today, with more seasonal (colder) air to our immediate north, and shockingly even warmer air to our south will be a pattern we will deal with for most of the week. This will set us up for a fair amount of rain chances and generally milder than normal temps to close the year out.

Tonight we will see rain returning mainly after midnight, temps will fall early to near 40, and then start to rise overnight as the warmer air surges north with the moisture. Monday will feature rain, with the best chances early, with some slightly drier, but warm air later in the day. Highs should push into the upper 50s on Monday.

Monday night before midnight the boundary will slide south, and cooler (however still much warmer than normal) air will slide south for early Tuesday, lows will still be in the upper 30s. Tuesday will see rain returning, and there will be periods of heavy rain possible on Tuesday. The thing to watch will be early on Tuesday as north of US-36 might have a bit of wet snow mixed in at the start as the moisture encounters a bit of more seasonal air.

All of the activity should change to rain by mid-morning as warmer air will win over across the area. Temps will top in the upper 40s on Tuesday with heavy rainfall possible at times. Rain should taper off Tuesday night.

Wednesday the warmer air will continue to surge north with mostly cloudy skies we will see temps push into the middle 50s. The boundary will slide back south Wednesday night, and could bring some light precip. with it, mainly cold rain showers, but some wet snow showers will be possible too as temps will be in the mid 30s.

Thursday expect some clearing and a bit cooler, but still above normal in the middle 40s. We will see a cooler airmass settle in for Friday with high pressure temporarily traversing the area with highs in the lower to middle 40s. Quickly our next system appears to move up from the southwest into our area for Saturday. This should bring temps up into the middle 40s at least on Saturday with rain returning once again.

At this point, it appears we are still solidly on track for a top 10 warmest December on record.

-Dave