SUMMARY: January 19th-20th Storm

On Friday I said:
"The lines drawn above cannot be set in stone."

For days in advance it appeared this storm would split Central Ohio in half right down I-70. Most models pointed to that and I didn't seem to have a reason to doubt it. But by Friday night models suddenly shifted to a more northern solution. By Friday night I posted this addendum:

What I didn't say in my blog post is I believe warmer air will win out and push that rain/snow line further north than most outlets are forecasting. #ohwx

— Central Ohio Weather (@wxcentralohio) January 18, 2019

At that point I had a feeling we would wake up Saturday morning to a cold rain, and sure enough, as far north as southern Delaware County in Central Ohio was just rain. As the day went on that warm surge pushed even further north, allowing the majority of Central Ohio to be all rain. We saw very little freezing rain or sleet during the day.

It wasn't until Saturday night when snow finally overtook most of the area and our accumulation began. Snow was heavy at time between midnight and 3am, where most of these totals occurred:

Many called this storm a bust and were disappointed to see the amount of attention this got through the day yesterday, but I still believe this was a high impact storm. Once snow started last night we had 30mph winds causing blowing snow. Temps dropped from the mid 30s to the single digits in a matter of hours. This was a major event that cause Level 2 and 3 snow emergencies Sunday morning and all but shutdown travel overnight.

No, we didn't get the icing or heavy snow that was originally called for, but it's only because of a last minute 50 mile adjustment. Imagine trying to throw a football in a bucket from 50 yards away. That's what it's like being able to predict exactly where a rain/snow line will be for a storm that hasn't even reached your region yet. To miss by 50 miles is like that football just barely bouncing off the rim of that bucket. Not bad if you ask me. But... people will still say uneducated accusations like, "wow I wish I could get paid to be wrong all the time like Meteorologists!"

I'll get off my soap box now.

Looking Ahead
Our temperatures are downright frigid right now. As the sun is going down air temps are in the single digits and wind chills are well below zero.

Luckily we'll jump back above freezing by Tuesday before another warm storm system moves in mid-week. We'll be on a rollercoaster all week, get ready for more storms ahead.