A warming trend

A warming trend is heading for the region and it will likely hang around into the second week of December. Daytime highs the rest of this week will gradually warm through the 40s reaching 50+ by the weekend. Temperatures the early part of next week will remain warm, then cool down for midweek before warming again toward the weekend.

Our normal high temperatures for late November are in the mid 40s dropping into the lower 40s for early December. With that in mind, you can see from the maps below that the trend for days 6-10 and 11-15 are near or above normal. Don't get too excited yet, however. It's not going to last. Colder air is expected to return the week before Christmas.

December 2-6

December 7-11

(Maps courtesy of AccuWeather)

Lake Effect Snow in the forecast

(Radar as of 7pm Friday night. Yes, the blue is snow. LOL)

Looks like we could get our first lake effect snow of the season. As expected cold air has moved into NE Ohio and it's going to hang around for the weekend. Just to let us know it's the Christmas season, we could see anywhere form 1 to 3 inches of snow by Saturday night, the heaviest in the secondary snow belt of northern Portage and Summit counties.

Woo Hoo!  "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

Sunny and warm for Thanksgiving; Cold and snowy for the weekend

Well, here we go. Mother Nature is about to do some mood swings. We're going to be OK this week through Thanksgiving and probably through Black Friday as well. After that a surge of cold air with lake effect snow is likely over the weekend. Then next week (November 26-December 1) daily temperatures will start to do the yo-yo thing.

As for Thanksgiving, it's looking really nice around the lower Great Lakes. We are expecting sunshine with temperatures well above normal.

It will be sunny and mild over the lower Great Lakes for Thanksgiving.
(Map courtesy of AccuWeather)

Friday will be a bit cooler, but not bad. However, a cold front coming through late Friday will knock our Saturday temperatures down into the 30s with a good likelihood of lake effect snow showers. At this point it's not expected that we will see any major accumulations here in the greater Akron area, just a little dusting to make it feel like the beginning of the Christmas season.

Colder air with lake effect snow will move in overnight Friday and continue on Saturday.
(Map courtesy of AccuWeather)

Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!

Pre-Thanksgiving Forecast

The weather is looking fairly nice now through Thanksgiving. The cold air that moved in Monday afternoon will slowly moderate until temperatures get up to near normal (upper 40s/near 50). Temperatures will stay in that area through the holiday, then afterwards, it looks like another cold air mass will move in.  So, between now and Thanksgiving, enjoy the sun and warming temperatures.

If you are traveling Thanksgiving week, here is the AccuWeather holiday travel forecast:

The quiet in the center of the storm

Daisy pulled a fast one on us. She was expected to move into central Pennsylvania and then head north. Instead she just kept heading west until she got near Pittsburgh/Youngstown and then took the turn. at 6pm this evening, as you can see by the wind map below, the center of Sandy was right along the Ohio/PA border. That put us near what would have been the eye of the storm when it was tropical. As a result the wind died down considerably this afternoon. Since the heaviest wind is on the west side of the storm, central Ohio was the area that celebrated a windiest afternoon.

As we go through the overnight, Sandy should move far enough away from us that the wind will increase once again. It won't be as windy as last night, but it will still become quite breezy. Last night we experienced a 45mph wind gust at the Weather Center in Streetsboro just after 2am.

Rainfall was fairly heavy today. As of 6pm we had collected .80" at the Weather Center giving us a total of 3.30" since the rain began on Saturday. By the time this whole system moves away, which should be during the day Friday, we expect to have had over 4" of rainfall this week.

In the meantime, just sit back for another couple of days and enjoy the clouds, the wind, and the rain. Based on the current forecast we should finally see the sun again on Saturday, but it's only Tuesday evening, so you never know.

Hurricane Sandy Update - 3:30pm Monday

It was interesting this afternoon watching the wind field increase in NW Ohio and work it's way eastward. Overnight tonight we should see sustained winds of 30+ mph with gusts over 50mph. During the day tomorrow the wind will eventually back off to a sustained level of 20+ mph with gusts over 30mph.  It's still going to be very windy, but the worst of the weather should be overnight tonight (Monday) and Tuesday morning.

Rainfall will continue to be quite heavy as well. We had 1.50" on Saturday and Sunday. By the time we get to Thursday morning we will add another 2" or more to that total. By the time this system moves out of the area early Friday, we will probably end up with nearly 4" of rain. That's a lot of water!

Overnight tonight and tomorrow we need to be concerned about trees and power lines. The continued strong sustained winds will wear down trees and wires and eventually the trees will fall over, the power lines will break, and extensive power outages will occur. Be careful where you park your vehicle and be careful where you walk.

Sandy update: Sunday 8pm

Over half an inch of rain fell today at the Weather Center. This is just the beginning of what is going to be an interesting week.

Hurricane Sandy will affect NE Ohio in a big way beginning Monday afternoon. Sustained winds Monday afternoon will reach 20+ mph and remain there through the day Tuesday. In addition, wind gusts of 40+ mph are expected Monday night and throughout the day on Tuesday. These strong winds combined with up to 2” of rainfall during the period will make the ground soft and cause trees to uproot. Considerable property damage and widespread power outages can be expected beginning Monday night. Conditions will start to improve during the day Wednesday, but will still be dangerous.

When you go out tomorrow, be careful where you park your car. Try to avoid parking near trees or power lines. You know why!