Cooldown on the way as Christmas week approaches
Dec. 17—After two days of near record-setting warmth, Toledo-area temperatures were expected to cool rapidly Thursday night to conditions more typical for mid-December.
But while the colder air expected to prevail through at least Christmas Day would support snowfall, Jay Berschback, chief meteorologist with WTVG-TV Channel 13 said Thursday the chances for a white Christmas in Toledo appeared to be quite poor.
The temperature at Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, Toledo's official reporting station, peaked Thursday morning at 61 degrees, one degree shy of the local record from 1984. It was the eighth straight day of above-normal high temperature, including a high of 62 on Wednesday that was three degrees below the Dec. 15 record, and a daily record high of 63 on Saturday.
Based on a 30-year rolling average, Toledo's normal high temperature for the current few days is 39 degrees. Forecasters expect high temperatures no more than a degree or two higher than that for the next week — and quite a bit cooler on some days.
But that cooler spell is not expected to be accompanied by much in the way of precipitation.
"While we're expecting near-normal or below-normal temperatures through Christmas, there aren't any major storm systems on our maps," Mr. Berschback said. "Almost all of our computer models agree that we'll either have no snow or just a trace of snow — a dusting — by the time we hit Christmas morning."
The chance of having an inch or more on the ground currently appears no better than 5 to 10 percent, he said.
Local temperatures should stay cold enough, however, to maintain good ice in the temporary rink for Winterfest hockey games at Fifth Third Field, Mr. Berschback said.
The warmup Wednesday included occasional heavy rain that caused minor flooding on the Tiffin River in far northwest Ohio, for which a National Weather Service warning remained in effect Thursday evening. Forecasters expected that river to retreat to within its banks by Friday morning.
