McCoy: More snow and bitter cold on tap

VW independent/submitted information

The end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 will go in the record books as one of the longest cold waves with temperatures below 20 degrees, according to Van Wert County Emergency Management Director Rick McCoy.

The last time county residents saw the thermometer above 20 was on Christmas Eve and McCoy is expecting another full week ahead of these frigid temperatures. The winters of 2014 and 2015 produced lots of snow and some bitter cold temperatures, but neither of those winters had a two-week period where temperatures didn’t moderate a little bit. In the current pattern, the Polar Express just keeps pumping bitter temperatures into the area, with no brief warm-up, and the coldest days yet are expected to begin on Sunday night.

McCoy said the winter is panning out as expected so far, due to the La Nina pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which controls weather patterns over the United States in the winter months. All predictions pointed to moisture above normal this winter with below normal temperatures. If this pattern continues, expect close to 40 inches of snow across the region this winter, McCoy noted, with the average for the area being 30 inches.

The last two years were well below normal, with last winter producing 14.55 inches of snow and the previous year 10.5 inches. McCoy said that, looking back three years, the county saw 42.3 inches of snow and a whopping 77.78 inches of snow the prior winter of 2014.

For this afternoon and overnight, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory, with 2 to 3 inches of snow predicted across Van Wert. Temperatures are expected in the low teens Friday and Saturday, with lows just below zero Friday and wind chills around 10 below zero.

“The real cold surge will hit Sunday night, so bundle up good when going out for New Year’s Eve celebrations, as temps drop to minus-5 with wind chills of minus -14. New Year’s Day will only hit 7 degrees  with a bone chilling low of minus 7 degrees and wind chills in the minus 15- to minus 20-degree range,” McCoy predicts.

Tuesday is expected to be even colder, with “highs” maybe making it to 4 degrees, with a wind chill of 20 to 25 below zero. The bitter cold continues through at least next Thursday, with signs of a possible warm-up next weekend into the upper 20s.

McCoy reminds everyone to protect their skin from frostbite and to protect animals and pets from the extreme temperatures.