Quick warm-up ahead of next cold front for Columbus area

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, temps rise late, low 30
• Wednesday: Mainly cloudy, isolated light showers late, snow showers mainly southeast, high 41
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, colder, high 24
• Friday: Partly cloudy, high 24
• Saturday: Cold start, mostly sunny, high 27

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Tuesday Evening,

It has been a day with mixed clouds, and temps below normal, but changes will be coming starting overnight tonight as temps will take a dip ahead of midnight, and then begin to rise later tonight back into the middle 30s by daybreak on Wednesday. In fact, temps could be the warmest they have been since last Thursday by sunrise on Wednesday.

Temps will continue to slowly increase during the day on Wednesday, before topping in the lower 40s ahead of our late day cold front. We will see some moisture working in ahead of this front, mainly near I-71 late in the afternoon, as rain, but as the colder air catches up, it will change to snow showers.

It looks like the timing for this changeover will be after sunset and into the evening hours on Wednesday as temps begin to fall. While most of our area will see pretty low totals for snowfall, it is possible we could see an inch or more in our southeast counties as this boundary works its way through our area ahead of midnight.

Behind the front temps will fall into the middle to upper teens to start Thursday, and with clearing skies we will only climb into the middle 20s during the day. It will be a colder start on Friday with lows near 10, or single digits outside the city, and will climb to the middle 20s in the afternoon.

We will see a slightly colder start on Saturday with single digit lows (upper single digits) in the city, with some mid singles outside the city. Lots of sunshine will allow temps to push to the upper 20s in the afternoon. Another weak front will push toward our area on Sunday and this will increase clouds as temps push toward 30.

We will see the drop for Monday with partly sunny skies, and lows in the middle teens, but highs will recover to near 30. Another system will approach on Tuesday and this will bring up the morning lows into the low to mid 20s, but will sweep through the area during the day, dropping highs into the upper 20s, and bringing a slight chance of snow showers.

Overall, the next 7 days will be highlighted by below normal temps, and generally below normal precip. as well.

-Dave