Weather Alert Day: More rain, flood watch into the weekend for Columbus area
QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:
- Tonight: Few pop-up storms early, on/off rain, low 41
- Friday: Rain showers likely, high 48
- Saturday: T-Showers, some heavy rain, windy, high 65
- Sunday: Partly cloudy, high 57
- Monday: Rain showers return, high 54
FORECAST DISCUSSION:
Good Thursday Evening,
It has been a wet day today with much of our area picking up a half inch or more of rain already, but temps soared into the 60s and 70s across our area. Temps will fall this evening as a cold front will cut across our area ahead of sunset, and will push through our southern counties ahead of midnight. We will see showers and possibly a few storms popping up along this boundary this evening with gusty winds and small hail possible.
Overnight the frontal boundary will stall in the southern part of the state, and additional bits of energy will ride along it, bringing more rain showers overnight, especially from I-70 and south overnight. Lows tonight will drop into the upper 30s north, and lower 40s south.
Friday expect a much cooler, less breezy, just damp day with showers expected on and off through the day, most of it will be lighter to more moderate, but later Friday evening into Friday night we will see bigger changes again. Highs on Friday will only climb into the upper 40s during the day, and then drop to the lower 40s in the evening before rising by midnight again.
The boundary will start to meander its way north overnight Friday night into Saturday early morning. We could have periods of heavy rainfall overnight into Saturday morning with storms, and gusty winds even outside of thunderstorms. Temps will rise back into the 50s by daybreak Saturday. Saturday will feature windy conditions, winds could be 25-35mph with gusts to near 50mph on Saturday.
Rain showers, storms, and eventually a cold front will push through our area and start to finally dry us out. Highs on Saturday will top in the middle 60s, and will fall into the middle 30s Saturday night behind the front with winds relaxing.
In total, our area could see an additional 1-2" or more in some isolated spots of rainfall through Saturday evening, that is why most of our area is under a flood watch for the next 48 hours.
We will enjoy drier air, more sunshine, and lighter winds on Sunday with highs in the upper 50s. Clouds will increase Sunday night into Monday with rain showers returning on Monday with another weak system moving through our area with highs in the middle 50s.
Slightly cooler, but more importantly, drier air will work back in for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Temps will be slightly below normal in the lower 50s both afternoons, with clearing skies on Tuesday. We will start near freezing on Wednesday, but have a more seasonal and sunny afternoon. Clouds will increase for Thursday with warmer air building ahead of our next cold front with highs near 60. Rain showers will return late Thursday into Thursday evening.
-Dave