Hazy sunshine, cooler temperatures settle in for Columbus area
QUICK WEATHER FORECAST:
- Today: Hazy sunshine, high 75
- Tonight: Mostly clear, low 49
- Thursday: Hazy sunshine, sprinkle east, high 76
- Friday: Mostly sunny, high 79
- Saturday: Few clouds, high 83
- Sunday: Showers, storms, high 76
FORECAST DISCUSSION:
Happy Wednesday!
Expect hazy sunshine once again, as wildfire smoke from Eastern Canada continues to stream through Central Ohio. An Air Quality Alert is in effect again today for several of our counties, where our AQI is up over 100, putting us in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" category. While I do think the smoke will be a bit more patchy today, it certainly looks like it will be noticeable.
Other than the haze, we won't be dealing with much in the way of cloud cover. Highs will be a bit cooler today, topping out in the middle 70s.
A very similar setup for Thursday, with a few clouds out, still hazy with unhealthy air quality, and highs sticking in the middle 70s. Mainly dry conditions other than a sprinkle chance, mainly to the east.
By Friday, I do think a lot of this smoke will push farther to the east, and that is something we will be monitoring. We'll be looking at mainly sunny skies, with highs warming into the upper 70s to near 80.
The weekend starts dry, with increasing cloud coverage for Saturday, and highs in the lower 80s. Flow shifts more southerly, which should also help get rid of some of this smoke.
For Sunday, we'll be eyeing a cold front that looks to bring us some more widespread showers and a few thunderstorms to end the weekend and head into the next workweek.
-McKenna