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TIMELINE: Here's when to expect snow, high winds & brutal wind chills

The latest weather forecast from WCPO's 9 First Warning Weather team.

By: Steve Raleigh

Posted at 4:27 AM, Dec 21, 2022

and last updated 2022-12-22 06:10:49-05

A 9 FIRST WARNING WEATHER ALERT DAY

Spotty shower chances start on Thursday during the day but it's an overall low chance during the daylight hours. Temperatures still warm to 44 and winds come in from the southeast at 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday evening is when the "event" gets underway. Between 6 p.m. and midnight, rain will quickly turn to snowfall and accumulate quickly as temperatures fall fast. We have a likelihood of a flash freeze for isolated areas. When the arctic front comes in, the left over wet pavement, driveway, or road will quickly freeze over. It's similar to black ice.

This will lead to snow covered roads and the start of our travel issues because of the 1"-2" snowfall rate. Accumulations with be light to moderate.

The latest update in the weather models is regarding Friday's forecast. It's still expected to be incredibly cold and windy. Our high is only expected around 7 with wind chills between -10 to -20 degrees all day long. Winds will gust up to 50 mph, also bringing in the chance for some wind damage and power outages. But a lot of the weather models are showing snow shutting down for Friday's forecast. So, this would focus most of our accumulating snow from late Thursday evening to sunrise Friday. Any additional snow on Friday would be light.

Friday's big story is the cold wind chills and high winds. Saturday's big story is the continued cold air with a high of 12 and wind chills below zero all day, too.
A winter storm watch and a wind chill watch have been issued for the Tri-State ahead of Thursday night's storm.

Fayette, Union, Franklin, Ripley, Dearborn, Butler, Warren, Clinton, and Hamilton counites are all under a winter storm watch starting late Thursday night into early afternoon Friday. These counties are looking at 1-3" of snowfall, wind gusts up to 45 mph and wind chills down to -30 degrees. Blowing snow is possible.

Also, a wind chill watch has been issued for all counties in the Tri-State from 1 a.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday. During this time, wind chill values will dip as low as -30 degrees, leading to frostbite to exposed skin in 10 minutes or less.