The weekend begins with rain and dense fog, with temperatures near freezing and a strong chance of snow.
Residents of the northern half of Ohio will experience dense fog Friday night into Saturday morning, the National Weather Service predicts.
The fog is expected to be followed by rain mixed with snow Saturday afternoon, said Brian Mitchell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Cleveland office.
“It's going to rain most of Saturday, so we need to keep it warm enough,” Mitchell said. “There will be windows late Saturday night into Sunday night and temperatures could be near freezing.”
Will it snow on Saturday or Sunday?
There is a 100% chance of rain in north central Ohio on Saturday.
The day's high is expected to be 43 degrees, with mostly rain and the few snowstorms that do occur, if any, likely to not take hold.
Temperatures will drop to around 32 degrees overnight into Sunday morning.
It's difficult to predict how much snow will fall while low temperatures are below freezing.
“The path of the storm is really important,” Mitchell said. “Rain may fall on the front and back edges of the storm as it passes. Snow may also fall right behind the storm as the storm pulls in enough cold air to dump snow across the region. There is a possibility.”
High temperatures on Sunday will return to around 40 degrees. Showers are expected to continue throughout the day.
What will the temperature be like?
Daytime high temperatures across the state are expected to remain below freezing until at least the end of next week, even after a few flurries over the weekend.
“It's going to be at least in the low 30s through next week,” Mitchell said. “And then we start to get back into the low 40s toward the end of the seven-day outlook.”
For north-central Ohio, the forecast extends to high temperatures Monday 36, Tuesday 39, Wednesday 38, Thursday 40 and Friday 41.
Nighttime lows for the entire week are expected to be 1 to 2 degrees below zero.
Will it snow in Ohio again this year?
With only a few weeks left of meteorological winter, Ohioans are starting to wonder if they'll see significant snow again by spring.
“I don't think we can rule out that possibility,” Mitchell said.
But for the rest of the winter, what he calls a “warmer trend” will continue.
“Looking forward at this point, we're kind of in the middle for the most part,” Mitchell said. “The trend is a little bit warmer and drier, but it doesn't take much to change the course of one storm and cause more rain and snow.”
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