Cold, breezy weekend with snow showers for Columbus area

QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:

• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, rain showers, with snow showers near morning, low 34
• Saturday: Wet snow showers in the morning, light rain showers later, breezy, high 39
• Sunday: Mostly cloudy, breezy, high 38
• Monday: Clearing, cool, high 40
• Tuesday: Showers later, high 48

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Good Friday Evening,

Rain showers will continue on and off through the evening tonight as colder air will slowly move into our area overnight. Temps will actually fall back to near normal in the middle 30s with low 30s outside of town. With this colder air working in and precipitation around, expect some wet snow showers by daybreak on Saturday.

Winds will remain up in the breezy range in the teens, with gusts pushing to the 30mph range during the afternoon on Saturday. Expect wet snow showers on Saturday morning, with more light rain showers by the afternoon. We will generally see temps pushing into the upper 30s with chills in the 20s on Saturday. Snowfall totals will generally be in the half inch or less range, but in grassy areas. Roads and sidewalks/driveways should remain well above freezing, and snow should melt on them.

Saturday night it will be much colder with lows dropping below freezing in the middle to upper 20s with chills in the lower teens. Sunday expect a cold day for late March with highs only in the upper 30s with partly sunny skies and breezy conditions. The coldest morning will be on Monday with lows in the lower 20s.

We will see a fair warm up on Monday, but highs will only be in the lower 40s with more sunshine, which is well off the normal. Rain showers will return later in the day on Tuesday with highs in the upper 40s. But as a larger system moves through the mid section of the county, the winds will pick up Tuesday night with temps rising after midnight.

We will see a massive surge in temps on Wednesday in the lower 70s with a few showers around, but a very mild day. This will be out ahead of the cold front that will arrive on Thursday. Temps should still be in the middle 60s on Thursday with the front coming through by early afternoon with showers and storms expected. It will also be breezy on Thursday ahead of this front.

Interestingly, already there are signals this system will bring a severe weather threat for the southern US, and it will shift north for Thursday closer to Ohio. While this is far out, it will be something to watch into next week.

Behind the front temps will fall into the lower 50s but with some clearing for next Friday.

-Dave