Any precipitation will end fairly quickly this morning, and we will begin to shift into a somewhat drier pattern. The dry gap is in control today, and we will remain dry throughout tomorrow as well. However, a little hiccup develops Saturday and Sunday night. A strong system is moving through the Ohio Valley in that time frame. Most of the complex remains in the south, over Tennessee and the Deep South. However, a minor back and topside disturbance moves directly across the Ohio River into the state Saturday night, then heads northeast across the heart of Ohio through Sunday. This is accompanied by some cold air entering the area, so we are looking at the possibility of rain and wet snow. Liquid precipitation will total 0.75″ with 80% of the state covered. Northwest Ohio is the area most likely to miss all the rain. The map below shows precipitation over a 24-hour period ending at sunset on Sunday.
The cold air will continue to begin next week from Monday to early Tuesday. However, there is a big warm-up on the way. A race of warm air Tuesday afternoon means we'll have some clouds to deal with, and then we'll turn to partly sunny for the rest of the week and next weekend. We offer free precipitation Monday through Sunday the 4th. We can look for good evaporation and moisture movement through the soil profile during the week thanks to the warmth and sun. We could easily see the 50s for several days in the second half of next week.
We should watch the strong system move out of the Four Corners area for the week of the 5th, but at this point we are seeing signs that the system wants to stay south, mostly due to strong Canadian pressure trying to build late next weekend, and this should bring cooler air to start. The fifth week too.
