The National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, is heralding a chilly ending to the week and a frosty start to the weekend for Columbus, Cincinnati, and surrounding areas. As the upper-level low parked over the Great Lakes makes its slow journey eastward towards New England, we're seeing a brief respite with surface high pressure sliding in and setting the stage for a cool, albeit dry, weekend. According to the National Weather Service, we can expect below normal temperatures to persist through midweek next week, with some shower activity possible as we soldier into Sunday and beyond.
Sunrise watchers will be greeted by cooler temperatures this morning, with the possibility of certain areas witnessing upper 20s on the thermometer. For most, though, with a light wind persisting, temperatures should hover in the lower 30s, inhibiting a more general dip below freezing. In places where the winds have calmed and the skies are clear, a Freeze Warning is duly in place, signaling a morning where Jack Frost might leave his mark.
After tonight, there's a silver lining for those who appreciate the crunch of frost underfoot - conditions are prime for a repeat performance. Calm winds and clear skies are expected to foster an environment ripe for another round of frost and potentially freezing temperatures, particularly in central Ohio and the lower Scioto Valley into northeast Kentucky. The NWS holds off on issuing frost or freeze warnings for Saturday morning, waiting to assess the impact of today's temperatures on the growing season before making that call.
Shifting gears to the long-term, looking at Saturday night through to Thursday, we're forecasting that the surface high pressure will continue to nudge northeast away from the Ohio Valley. For those yearning for clear skies, more patchy cloud cover is rolling in come Sunday night. However, due to an upper-level trough inching in from the west and its interaction with another variety of atmospheric behavior, the forecast remains, to quote officials, "murky." The certainty of rainfall increases Sunday night and lingers into much of next week as the trough settles in.
