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Wintry Weekend: Much colder and a wintry mix!

Plan for below-average temperatures and wintry precipitation

Cleveland Weather from News 5

By: Katie McGraw

Posted

and last updated

SET UP:
Two separate systems are bringing Friday's soggy weather and also a big cool down. The first is bringing tropical moisture to Northeast Ohio from the remnants of Hurricane Nicole and is causing the widespread rainfall. The second is a strong cold front moving in from the west and will slide through the viewing area on Friday dropping temperatures by the weekend. Say goodbye to the 70s!

The highest rainfall will be in our eastern communities and decrease as you move to the north and west. As a general rule, many of us should expect around 1-2 inches of rainfall on Friday. One to two inches of rain will be more likely the farther east you live and less than half an inch is more likely in our northwestern communities. Check out the graphic to get an idea regarding rainfall totals. We are in need of rain, but this will be a LOT of rain in a few hours. We will be watching for any flooding. Drive carefully! Visibility will be lower and ponding on the road is expected.

COLD BLAST:
Once the cold front slides through the region, temperatures will fall from the 60s to the 50s to the 40s and even the 30s from Friday to Sunday. The digits will drop on Friday. Highs will be in the low 60s but will fall by Friday night and into the weekend. Highs may not crack 40 degrees Saturday and Sunday! It looks like the cold will stick around for some time too.

Additionally, the cold front will also shift our winds to become northwesterly. This coupled with a relatively mild Lake Erie, will set the stage for Lake Effect showers. As of Friday afternoon, any snowfall totals look to be fairly minor. Most of the area will pick up less than 1 inch of snow this weekend. No surprises here, but the Snowbelt could see more accumulation. Expect 1-2 inches with locally higher amounts.

Intense bands of lake effect snow are possible which could result in isolated higher snowfall totals. Additionally, roads are still warm and should hold up in most locations. The exception would be a particularly intense snow band that could overcome road temperatures. The Power of 5 weather team will continue to monitor any changes and keep you posted.

TIMING:
Widespread rain looks to continue until the late afternoon and will SLOWLY shut off from west to east throughout Friday evening and come to end for everyone by midnight. Rain will linger the longest in our eastern communities.

There will be a brief lull in wet weather overnight and into early on Saturday. By Saturday afternoon a light but messy wintry mix is expected. This will hang around for most of the day. Then the lake effect snow machine gets turned on Saturday night and Sunday. Scroll through the images of Futurecast to get an idea about timing and coverage.

Be sure to check back for the latest information and keep it will the Power of 5 Weather Team this weekend!
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