Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Another Snowstorm?

Could Ohio be in for another major winter storm? Well, maybe. It looks like a low pressure system will track just south of Ohio Saturday, and that COULD bring in some more significant snow, mainly to northern Ohio. However, the storm will not be particularly large or cold when it passes south of us, so there are a couple of major forecast questions:
1. Will the precipitation be rain or snow? In northern Ohio, I think yes, most of the precip will be snow. But, for the southern 70% of the state it will either be a rain/snow mix or rain.
2. Will the heavy precipitation make it into the cold air? At this point that is yet to be determined. It looks like there will be some moderate precipitation making it into northern Ohio, and maybe to the Lake Erie shoreline.

So, my forecast: A stripe of 4-8" of snow somewhere between central Ohio and Lake Erie, with rain to the south and much less snow to the north. Stay tuned, as this forecast could change because we are still several days away. This kind of reminds me of the 2007 Valentines Day Storm, where it looked like we would see light mixed precipitation up until 2-3 days before the storm, when models suddenly showed heavy snow for northern Ohio. I don't think this will be a repeat, but as I said 4-8" of snow is definitely in parts of Northern Ohio.

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