Columbus (WCMH) – It is no secret that it has been a generally warm Winter. In fact, February was the warmest on record for Columbus, but now it is time for payback!
Yes, temperatures will start barely in the teens on Wednesday, and will struggle making it potentially the coldest day of the year (so far)…Wednesday will be the coldest day of 2017 so far, when you take into account departure from normal.
So for Wednesday our normal high temperature is 51°, and our normal low is 32°. Our forecast is for a high of 28° and a low of 14°, or an average temp of 21°, or rounded up 21° below normal for the date.
Below is a list of the coldest average temperature departure from normal so far in 2017:
- Mar 15th (forecast) -21°
- Jan 7th -19°
- Jan 6th -19°
- Jan 8th -15°
- Mar 14th -15°
- Mar 11th -13°
- Feb 4th -11°
- Feb 9th -11°
- Mar 12th -11°
- Jan 5th -10°
- Feb 3rd -10°
This will not be the coldest day of the year for actual temperature, that occurred January 7th when we had a morning low of 6°, and a high of 16°. Starting in December, we had one day even colder, it was 24° below normal, with a high of 14° and a low of 4° (December 15th, technically not Winter).Right now we are about halfway through an 11 day losing streak of below normal temps:
The average temperature for each day starting late last week has been below normal and will bottom out Wednesday
- 3/10 -8°
- 3/11 -13°
- 3/12 -11°
- 3/13 -7°
- 3/14 -15°
- 3/15 -21°
- 3/16 -15°
- 3/17 -6°
- 3/18 -5°
- 3/19 -5°
- 3/20 -4°
- 3/21 +2°
Not only is it going to be cold tonight & Wednesday, but it will be breezy to windy at times making for zero to sub-zero wind chills at times!

The combination of winds in the 12-20 mph range overnight and temps in the low/mid teens will dip chills near 0° or below in the city.

Outside Columbus the temps and wind chill should sneak a bit lower.

If you have any questions about wind chills, cold weather, or any other type of weather, email me: dmazza@wcmh.com
Bundle up tonight & Wednesday and be safe!!!
-Dave