Warmest in a month

Highs across the area Friday reached into the 50s (and some places the lower 60s), making it the warmest day since November 30.

Normal high is 32°, and the record was 66° set back in 1875.

Much colder air will return over the next couple of days with highs back to near seasonal levels.

Last-minute December warmth

After quite a cold December, the overall upper-air pattern will reconfigure itself to allow some of the warmest air of the month to arrive for the final few days of 2010.

Eastern Snow Storm

Cold December Continues...

Even though our highs are not as cold as they were in the past week or so, they continue to run below normal for this time of year.  There will be a slight moderation in temps the end of next week, but the month will end up well below normal.

By the end of next week, December will have featured about 90% of the days with below normal highs.  Only three days this month (Dec 10, 11, 12) achieved highs above normal.  Those days are also the only time the temp went above 33°.

Snowfall is running a little below normal.  The current tally for the season is 5.8" at Toledo Express Airport, which is about 3" below normal.

A White Christmas

Last year, after many days of cold weather and snow cover, rain and highs in the 40s eradicated our snow cover on Christmas Day.  In 2008, it was cold with some flakes and temps in the 20s, and there was a few inches of snow cover.  Two days later, the high hit 65°!

This year, temperatures will allow the current snow cover to remain in place for much of the viewing area into this weekend.

The following maps and tables show the percent probabilities for a snow depth of at least 1 inch on Christmas morning, as well as the probabilities for a depth of at least 5 inches and 10 inches.  The Dataset for the period of 1961-1990 was used to compute these statistics.

***A white Christmas is defined by having at least 1" of snow on the ground Christmas morning***

Probability of             1"            5"           10"
   CINCINNATI              11%              4%             0%
   CLEVELAND              50%            17%            0%
   COLUMBUS                 23%              0%            0%
   DAYTON                      27%              3%            0%
   FINDLAY                     41%              0%            0%
   MANSFIELD               47%              3%            0%
   TOLEDO                 57%         3%          0%
   YOUNGSTOWN         50%            10%           0%
   ZANESVILLE              21%               3%           0%





ON ANY GIVE YEAR, TOLEDO HAS A 57% CHANCE OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS. 

Winter solstice

It has felt like winter for awhile now, but the astronomical start of winter occurs today.

The winter solstice marks the time when the direct rays of the sun reach its most southern point on the globe, which is the Tropic of Capricorn.  This occurs at 6:38 PM EST today.

Deep Freeze

Even though it is supposed to be cold this time of year, it has been much colder than normal.  Normal high is 34°, normal low is 21°.

Temperatures have been below freezing since 9 am on December 12.

Some areas will crack freezing Tuesday afternoon, but temps will stay in the mid 20s to near 30° the rest of the week into early next week.