It's gonna get cold...just for a few days

A cold arctic blast is heading into the state later tonight. Looks like we will probably end up with 2-5 inches of snow on the ground by tomorrow night.  There's some snow out in front of the cold front and then it looks like a bit of lake effect will crank up behind it for tomorrow.  The winds are going to be more northerly than in the past and that could push the snow down below I-76. While temperatures will be below freezing for Saturday and Sunday, we will warm back into the mid 30s on Monday. I still don't see a prolonged period of arctic cold moving into the region during the next 10 days.

Storms coming?

Don't want to get too excited yet, but it's beginning to look like we could start to get some stormy winter weather around mid-month and continuing for a week or two...snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet. Woo hoo!  More later as we get closer and the systems get more defined. May not happen, but right now it's looking kinda positive.

This is NE Ohio, right?

January temperatures ended up 5.5 degrees ABOVE normal for the Greater Akron area. So, if you thought it was warmer than normal (and I think everybody did), you were right.

We had 14" of snow in January at the Akron/Canton Airport. That seems like a lot, but most of it fell between the 19th and 21st and the proceeded to melt within a few days...as did most of the other snow we had. So, it came and went so fast we hardly even noticed.

What about the future?  Looking ahead to the next 10 days I think temperatures will be a bit cooler than this past week, but will remain near or above normal. The normal daytime highs through the middle of the month should be 34 to 37 degrees. And, still...no big snowstorms.

Snowy days return

Looks like the arrival of more winter-type weather will be here to stay for a while.  Temperatures next week will continue to bounce around a bit, but as he head into the last few days of January and the first couple of weeks of February, it appears that the cold will be a bit more sustained.
Thursday
On Thursday a little clipper with a trailing cold front will be sliding through the region.  That system will drop an inch or snow of snow across the region during the day.
Late Friday/Saturday
More significantly will be a second storm system moving through the Great Lakes late Friday.  Snow is expected to begin Friday night and continue into Saturday morning.  We could get a 3-6 inch snowfall out of this system between Friday night and Saturday midday.

Well, that was fun

I remember now what winter is supposed to be like...kinda cold, blowy, and snowy.  For you winter weather fans, the good news is that the weather pattern seems to be changing back to a pattern that will be more suitable for winter weather.  But, major changes are not overnight events,  so the roller coaster will continue for a while yet.  You can expect temperatures the rest of the month to be cold for a few days...then warming up before turning cold again. That's very much what has been happening most of this winter. Eventually, as we head into February and March, a more normal type of winter weather pattern should set up meaning longer cold spells and even some real live snowstorms from time to time.  However, it still looks like most of the heavier winter snows this year will be to our northwest as we expected.

Is Winter just around the corner?

This is AccuWeather's temperature outlook for mid-January.

   Good question.  As the mild weather continues through the middle part of this week, there are signs that a return to more normal winter weather is just around the corner.  Those meteorologists who key in on the upper level atmospherics are seeing lots of changes taking place and we think that is finally going to set us up for more normal winter weather.
   Colder air will move into the area the end of this week. As it does, a period of lake effect snow could set up on Friday, but I think the winds are going to be a bit too westerly for us to get anything morning than a couple of inches if that. Areas along I-90 east of Cleveland may see much more.
   After that, by the middle of next week it looks like the mercury will settle down to daytime highs in the low to mid 30s with an occasional push into the 40s. Along with the colder temperatures then, we should start to see some actual snow systems develop and move through the Great Lakes. Hang in there winter snow enthusiasts. Your day is coming.

A mild January continues

(Map courtesy of AccuWeather)

   The mild weather continues as we head into the 2nd week of the new year. This follows a December that was well above normal.  In December temperatures averaged nearly 6 degrees above what they should have been.  Here in the early part of January our normal daytime highs should be in the lower 30s, so if you are keeping score, you can see that we are continuing above normal.
   It does look like a change in our weather pattern will occur late this coming week or over next weekend. The question remains how long the pattern will last. Will it stay for a couple of weeks or just hang on for a few days and then retreat?  It's too early to tell right now.