The National Weather Service (NWS) in Cleveland has issued a detailed forecast for the coming days, including a build-up of high pressure across the Great Lakes Region and a weak clipper system heading southeast, likely to affect the area on Friday. Clevelanders can expect lake-effect snows from Friday night into Saturday as a trough remains over the region's eastern part. This was detailed in a National Weather Service weather discussion released early Thursday morning.
According to the forecast, today's weather should not present significant disruptions, with high pressure typically leading to clearer skies. However, it seems the calm might be short-lived. Scattered light snow showers that persisted across the northeast areas are predicted to dissipate through the morning. The high pressure should trap moisture beneath a 4,000-foot inversion, suggesting mostly cloudy skies for the day. Temperatures, having been sluggish to decrease overnight due to cloud cover, will not climb much during the day, with highs resting in the low to mid-30s.
The "weak clipper" system will start influencing conditions after midnight tonight in northwest Ohio. "Light snow will move into Northwest Ohio after 3-4 AM with lift in the 925-700mb layer," the NWS indicated, mentioning that mid-level dry air could result in breaks in the precipitation come Friday morning. Nonetheless, the passage of a cold pool with temperatures around -29C at 500mb is likely to sustain off-and-on snow showers throughout most of Friday. Snowfall estimations for the local area are generally around one inch, though these could increase if the axis of heaviest snowfall shifts northward.
Heading into the weekend, the weather seems poised to take a turn for the frosty. "Cyclonic NW’erly flow aloft and embedded shortwave disturbances affect our region Friday night through Saturday," NWS explained. This combination, coupled with continued cold air advection, is projected to cause temperatures to dip into the upper teens by Saturday morning, with a continuation of lake-effect snow streaming predominantly southward from Lake Erie, possibly bringing enhanced snowfall to the area. Conditions may exacerbate further into Saturday, with anticipated heavy lake-effect snow and snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour, though lower rates are possible outside of the most intense bands.
Forecasted improvements may arrive by Sunday, with a ridge expected to build from the western Great Lakes, bringing some stability and fairer weather conditions. Despite this, cold air remains, and light lake-effect snow could linger before diminishing Sunday afternoon. The detailed discussion did not forget to highlight that this weekend’s snowfall totals in the hardest-hit areas of northeast Ohio could be significant. Up to 8 inches have been projected. The Monday outlook is calmer, with temperatures climbing towards the low to mid-30s as the region catches a brief respite from the wintry onslaught before a potential mix of rain and snow returns for Christmas Eve and Day.
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