Slow warming begins next week

So the snow Wednesday evening was really annoying, but aside from that, everyone I talked with thought it was kinda pretty.  LOL Well, sunshine and spring flowers are pretty, too and I would much rather see them than the snow this time of year.

I looks like a slow warm-up is going to begin next week.  Don't expect a warm temperature surge, but rather a gradual trend upward through the middle of the month. We may have a couple of days well into the 60s, but only one or two.

Temperatures will start to push toward normal next week. Our normal daytime high should in the mid 50s next week increasing to the upper 50s by mid-April.  It's going to be a hard crawl, but I think we can make it.  Just hang in there, little buddy.   :-)

Warmer temperatures where art thou?

OK...enough of this already! Unfortunately, we apparently have not yet had enough, at least according to Mother Nature. I just checked out the long range models for the next two weeks and sadness has befallen me. Looks like we are going to remain below normal.

The problem we have had this weekend is that a nice cold Canadian HIGH pressure system is located to our northwest and has been pumping lots cold air over the Great Lakes. These morning lows in the mid-teens are really annoying.

Daytime high temperatures this coming week will start to trend upwards beginning mid-week, but in general we will remain below our weekly average high. I am seeing some hope for the first week of April. It looks like we could finally get up close to normal for daytime highs.  For the record, the normal daytime high during the first week of April is in the mid 50s. I can live with that, but don't bet the farm just yet.

Oh, remember last year?  If not, here's how we started off April:

April 1st - High 79
April 2nd - High 82
April 3rd - High 80

Ah...if we could only re-live those days again.  :-)

Stay warm!

The long, long winter...this year compared to last year

I've had a lot of people ask me about this current winter. They seem think that it has gone on "forever".  ("Forever" is a relative term, of course.) Well, it has seemed to have been a long one. That being said, I figured it was time (on this first day of spring) to go back and compare this winter with last winter.  This may surprise you, but the total snowfall difference from December 1 to March 20 this winter compared to last winter is officially less than 2".

For purposes of comparison I'm going to use the official snowfall figures from the National Weather Service at Akron/Canton Regional Airport.  Of course northern Portage and Summit counties received much more snow do to lake effect, but the general pattern is the same. We just had more of it up north. (Note that, according to the Record-Courier newspaper, Dr. Thomas Schmidlin of Kent State University has measured 116" of snow in Kent so far this winter, but that's the snow belt for you.)

From December 1, 2009 to March 20, 2010 (last winter) we officially had 61.2" of snow.  For the same period this winter we had 62.9" of snow. That's less than 2" inches difference.

So, looking at the similarity in snowfall amounts, why does this winter seem so bad? There's a good reason.  This year each month (December through February) had similar amounts of snowfall. (See the chart below) Last winter, we had more snow in February alone than we did in the two previous months combined. So, while last year most of the snow fell in one month (February), this year it has fallen more evenly and consistently throughout the winter, thus making it seem that this winter has gone on forever.

So, there ya go!

                         Last Winter          This Winter

December              9.3"                      19.5"        

January                 14.7"                     18.9"

February               37.2"                     18.4"

March (1-20)        Trace                      6.1"


TOTAL                61.2"                    62.9"

A touch of Spring

Spring officially arrives this Sunday and it actually looks like it's going to be a pleasant day.

As expected, we turned the corner this week temperature-wise.  We are heading into a warmer period, however rain is still in the forecast.  So, generally the next week and a half should average out to be warm and wet.

Quick update on the snow (Thursday, 4:15pm)

Rain will change over to snow around midnight tonight.  Snow will fall at a rate of about 1/2" an hour.  That should give us 2-4 inches of snow on the ground by daybreak.  This is going to be a wet snow, so even though there won't be too much on the ground, it will pack nicely and on the highways the cars driving over it will turn the snow to ice. So, things could be a bit slippery for the morning rush.


By the time the storm moves away late tomorrow we should generally see 6-8 inches on the ground with a bit more in some areas.  The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow for overnight tonight and tomorrow.

Snow update (Thursday, 2pm)

(Map courtesy of www.accuweather.com)

Colder air is now moving into western and central Ohio. Temperatures will drop below freezing shortly after midnight. Rain will change to snow a few hours before that. The snow will be heavy and wet and accumulate rapidly.

I'm still looking for 2-4 inches of new snow by morning with an additional 3-5 inches during the day tomorrow. Total snow will probably end up being 5-8 inches by the time the snow trails off late Friday. Snow will be heavier to thew north and east of Akron. Snowfall may vary by several inches from one end of the county to the other. The heaviest snow may end up north and east of Ravenna.

Snow update (Thursday, 8:30am)

(Map courtesy of  http://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov)

We are still on track for snow overnight tonight. The colder air will move in and change the rain to snow probably close to midnight. I'm still thinking 2-4 inches of wet snow by daybreak with another 3-5 during the day tomorrow.

The map at left is from the National Weather Service Rapid Refresh Model and shows the tongue of snow dipping into NE Ohio. You can look at that and see why the snow forecast is so uncertain. There will be a lot of variation in snow depths within a 40 mile area north to south and east to west. This is probably going to one of those storms where "you get what you get" and your friends 15 miles away will have something totally different.