COLUMBUS, Ohio – Winter is still two months off but the weather is making an early appearance in central Ohio, with wet snow dusting the ground on Wednesday and a freeze watch in effect through Thursday morning.
Columbus recoded about an inch and a half of rainfall early Wednesday morning, with the rain changing over to a mix of snow and rain by sunrise, though air temperatures well above freezing meant little or no accumulation.
It will be a different story in 24 hours, when the National Weather Service says the Columbus area can expect early-morning temperatures at or around 30 degrees from late Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. Unprotected outdoor plants are in danger of being damaged or killed by the cold temperatures.
October snow is hardly new to central Ohio. The Weather Service says the earliest date of measurable snowfall was Oct. 10, 1906 (0.1 inches) and the earliest date of one inch or more of snowfall was Oct. 22, 1925 (1.0 inches).
The average date of central Ohio’s first measurable snowfall during the years from 1981 to 2010 has been Nov. 21.