Is it summer or winter in Ohio? Changing temps break state records after this week's storms

Grace Tucker, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
Snow flurries arrived in Greater Cincinnati last weekend.
Snow flurries arrived in Greater Cincinnati last weekend.

The Midwest saw a tug-of-war between summer and winter temperatures this week. Cities like Chicago experienced record-breaking drops in temperature toward the middle of this week.

Did Ohio's sudden cold front after pleasantly warm temperatures also break records?

Did Ohio's weather break records this week?

Ohio also had a sunny start to the week, with highs ranging from the lower 60s north to the upper 60s to around 70 degrees south on Monday. After hazardous weather, storms and a series of tornados Tuesday night, temperatures dropped drastically on Wednesday, falling to around 25 degrees Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.

The decrease in temperature on Wednesday, Feb. 28, was in fact the largest drop the state has seen in decades, Seth Binau, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS) in Wilmington, confirmed via X/Twitter.

At 5:15 a.m. on Wednesday, the temperature had reached 70 degrees. And by 11:15 a.m., it dropped to 36 degrees – a 34 degree drop in six hours, Binau explained. In terms of February temperature drops, Wednesday's cold front is the second-largest temperature drop NWS has seen since 1947.

The state record is a 35 degree drop that occurred in February 1999, he added.

Other Midwest cities experienced cold spells after summer-like temps

Joggers run along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee.
Joggers run along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee.

In Chicago, temperatures reached 72 degrees by Monday afternoon and were expected to drop nearly 60 degrees by Wednesday – the most rapid temperature drop the city has seen in decades, the New York Times reported.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport saw a forecast high of 63 degrees on Monday, but just one calendar date later, on Tuesday, the city saw winter storm warnings and school closures.

In Milwaukee, temperatures reached 73 degrees on Tuesday afternoon before plummeting to 17 degrees by Wednesday morning.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio weather: This week's temperature drop is the largest in decades