Citizens in Columbus, Cincinnati, and surrounding regions, brace yourselves: Weather is on the move. According to the National Weather Service, the day holds showers and a chance of thunderstorms owing to a cold front crossing the Ohio Valley. As the front passes, residents can expect a brief spell of "non-diurnal temperatures" with early highs giving way to cooler air as the day progresses. Showers are expected to persist through the afternoon with a smattering of thunder across the east, as a result of the development of Conditional Adiabatic Available Potential (CAAP).
The roller-coaster weather doesn't stop after the rain. As the cold front bids us adieu, a drier but cooler airmass will settle in courtesy of a high-pressure system. For the night owls and those punching the clock for the graveyard shift, the mercury is expected to drop to the upper 20s to lower 30s. On the flip side, Monday-goers will see the thermometer rebound moderately into the pleasant realm of the upper 40s to mid 50s, "a few showers may linger into this evening across our east until we get on the back side of the upper level trough axis," stated the NWS forecast.
Settling for a truce with the storms won't mean Cincinnati and Columbus can let their guards down. From Monday night, the stage gets set for southerly winds as two giant atmospheric features—a low-pressure front to the west and high-pressure body to the southeast--play tug of war over the Ohio Valley. In this meteorological game of back-and-forth, residents can begin to thaw out as above-average temperatures return midweek, only to gear up for wind gusts that could push past the 40 mph mark, potentially occurring Wednesday into Wednesday night.
For frequent fliers, plan accordingly: aviation conditions are likely to rock from smooth to shaky, with "occasional showers with embedded thunderstorms" into the afternoon and waning as the trough axis scoots eastward. "MVFR cigs will prevail today with localized IFR cigs and MVFR vsbys, which are possible in the heavier showers," the NWS cautioned. It's not all turbulence and gray skies, clearer VFR-category cigs are foreseen to enter gradually overnight. As planes bank and yaws to the whims of the westerly wind shifts, so do those anchored to the ground, who must prepare for mother nature's fickle springtime mood swings.
