Columbus started Thursday with dry skies and high temperatures, but the calm was not expected to last. Light to moderate showers were expected to move into Central Ohio by noon and into the early afternoon, with a few pop-up storms out by I-77 able to get a little gustier.
Temperatures were expected to stay above average in the upper 70s, and skies were expected to be drier just after sundown. Friday should bring mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, with rain staying out of the area and highs reaching 80 degrees. That brief stretch of quiet weather comes before a stronger system rolls in Saturday as a cold front, bringing more rain and storm chances and a 2/5 risk for strong to severe weather. Even with the storms, temperatures were expected to hold in the upper 70s.
The pattern then turns sharply cooler by the end of the weekend, when highs were expected to fall into the 50s and skies were expected to clear. Sunshine should start off next week, and dry weather is expected to hold into midweek as temperatures rebound into the 70s. For anyone planning around the Columbus weather forecast, the message is straightforward: one warm, unsettled round gives way to a brighter Friday, a more serious Saturday, and a cooler, calmer finish.
That swing is the story for Central Ohio this week. The region is moving through a warm spell above average before the cold front resets the pattern, ending the weekend with a noticeable drop in temperatures and a return to clearer skies.
