By Jim Noel
The weather pattern will support wet weather into the middle of November with a series of storms now every several days. With clay type soils and reduced evaporation this could lead to standing water in fields in the next few weeks. We expect a wet weather system for the middle of this week followed by another next week.
November will be marked with above normal rainfall and temperatures trending from near normal to above or much above normal for the second half of the month.
Rainfall for the next two weeks will average 2-4 inches across the state with isolated higher totals in the south and east sections. A few spots in the northwest sections may be below 2 inches. This is above normal in all areas of the state though and much above normal in eastern and southern sections. See attached graphic for the two week rainfall outlook from NOAA/NWS/OHRFC.
The pattern remains in place with overall wetter conditions into December (though the second half of November may dry out some). It still appears January into February and possibly March will experience normal or slightly below normal rainfall before more wet weather returns sometime in April of 2019.
Much of the state has seen freeze conditions already with only pockets of the state not seeing a freeze yet (like near Lake Erie in northeast Ohio). However, much of the state has not seen a hard freeze yet (though parts of Northwest Ohio have). There is a chance we will go well into November before we see a hard freeze widespread across the state of Ohio.