Pneumonia cold front arriving in northwest Ohio; what to expect
A cold front is making its way into the area. Be prepared for a 10 - 15 degree drop in temperatures.
When to expect a temperature drop?
Most are loving the warm and sunny weather this week, WTOL 11 is too. Hidden in the sunny skies is a lurking cold front to our north which is showing signs of dropping this way and creating some very chilly conditions in the middle of the week. All indications are it will arrive Wednesday afternoon, so be prepared for a 10 - 15 degree drop in temperatures.
That means around lunch time on Wednesday, it will feel like 80 degrees but by the late afternoon and early evening, that feeling could drop into the upper 50s. In addition, strong winds are expected in the range of 15 - 25 mph which will enhance the chill. This type of chilly Great Lakes front has earned an ominous name: Pneumonia Front.
What is a pneumonia front?
While not an official term you’ll find in weather textbooks, it is a widely used term in the meteorological community. ‘Pneumonia front’ was first coined in the 1960s from the National Weather Service in Milwaukee. The officials wanted a term that stressed the serious nature of temperature drop that was expected on an otherwise nice spring day.
Along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, the temperature can fall as much as 50 degrees when the quickly warming land is overtaken by the cold produced air over the chilly lake waters. People who dress for very warm spring weather will be quickly left shivering and unprepared. Another aspect that makes these ‘pneumonia’ fronts is they often move through very dry air and so no sky condition changes, like storm clouds, appear as a visual warning that conditions are about to change.
Conditions to look forward to
While the middle of this week will see the quick temperature drop, there are indications that it will be short-lived. Highs should climb back to the 70s by late this week and even the mid-80s on Memorial Day. It is an appropriately warm forecast for what is often called the unofficial start of summer.
MORE FROM WTOL WEATHER