Hard freeze and persistent chill slow growing season
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — For Ohioans, and almost everyone else living across the northern tier of the country, it seems as if the weather is going backwards at the halfway point in April.
Wednesday morning brought freezing temperatures to all of Ohio, with readings falling into the mid-20s in many areas. Columbus had a low of 27 degrees, five degrees above the 1935 daily-record. Franklin County lows reached 25 degrees in Hilliard and Dublin. In Fairfield County, the Lancaster airport site minimum temperature plunged to 21 degrees.
An unusually cold pattern for the middle of April now covers the northern half of the country southward across the Plains. The temperature in Denver dipped to a record low of 10 degrees Tuesday morning with a light blanket of snow, and the ground was coated in Oklahoma City, also a record for Apr. 14. More than 3 inches of snow covered the mountain resort town of Wintergreen, Va., above 3,000 feet. Flurries flew in northeastern Ohio Tuesday afternoon, leaving a coating in Medina Township and other spots.
A dusting of snow Wednesday morning in Chicago caused at least 60 auto accidents due to slick roads, and a light accumulation of snow occurred at Milwaukee. Several inches blanketed areas around the Great Lakes. Temperatures in the northern Plains are 20-30 degrees below average.
Gusty winds will bring a rain showers ending as a few snowflakes Wednesday afternoon and evening ahead of another cold in much of Ohio, continuing after sunset in the southeastern part of the state.
The average high temperature in Columbus is 64 degrees in mid-April, but Tuesday’s maximum was only 46, and we will be lucky to briefly reach 50 degrees today. Another freeze warning is in effect for Thursday morning, as lows fall to the mid- and upper 20s.
Three to 6 inches of snow fell in parts of Utah and Wyoming early Wednesday, with more than a foot of snow in higher elevations of the Rockies, as another system dips south from Canada, bringing snow from Stalk Lake City to Rapid City, S.D. Denver is preparing for up to 5 inches of snow by Thursday morning.
The average date of the last 32-degree morning in Columbus is Apr. 16, and as late as Apr. 28 at Newark, so an April freeze is relatively normal, though not quite this cold.
Frost is more common in low spots in your backyard, where “heavier” cold air collects. This is why rural valley locations are typically 5-10 degrees colder than Franklin County, which is also influenced by the city’s residual warmth.
Frost forms when the ground temperature reaches the freezing point, which happens sooner than the air just above the surface, which is slower to cool on a clear, calm night.
If you are waiting for spring, we can count on more seasonable temperatures in Ohio early next week. Until then, daytime highs will be stuck in the upper 40s through Friday, and may not touch 60 degrees until Tuesday.
In the Southeast, cleanup continues after a large Easter tornado outbreak that extended into Monday (Apr. 12-13). More than 70 tornadoes have been counted, killing 33 people. The strongest was an EF4 tornado (170 mph-plus) in southern Mississippi, one of nine tornadoes striking the state Sunday afternoon.
The most tornadoes on Apr. 12-13 occurred in Alabama (19), North Carolina (12) and South Carolina (10). Deadly tornadoes struck near Chattanooga, Tenn., and northern Ga. Nine EF3 tornadoes (136-165 mph) were reported by National Weather Service survey teams. The NWS issued 161 tornado warnings from Texas/Arkansas to Maryland/Delaware.