Columbus, Georgia to Hattiesburg, Mississippi

We’re going to spend most of this 5 hour drive in Alabama, touching Montgomery and Mobile along the way. This pretty short drive will cover 327 miles at a pace of 64.1mph, which is also pretty reasonable for a short trip. All right, places to be, let’s go.

Columbus, Georgia

There is a strong area of low pressure in the Canadian Maritimes, and it is producing a cold front that is very active even in central Florida tonight. The boundary is reinforced by an area of low pressure emerging in the Gulf of Mexico. The increasing circulation will induce northerly winds in the southeastern US. While Florida will be particularly rainy, Alabama and it’s neighbors will be seasonably cool, with bright blue skies. It won’t even be humid in southern Mississippi when we arrive Sunday afternoon.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

A dreary end to summer

Just as summer turned to fall in Ohio, we forecast for Columbus. Wet weather was on it’s way into the Buckeye State, and was expected to bring a change to the pattern in central Ohio. Joke was on us, though, as that change came a day early. With rain and clouds, perhaps a bit thicker than expected, that change came a day early. Highs only reached 73 last Tuesday, thought they did get even cooler by mid week. All forecasters came through with a pretty workable forecast, with Weatherbug narrowly surpassing the rest.
Actuals: Monday – .01 inches of light rain, High 81, Low 71
Tuesday – .24 inches of rain, High 73, Low 67

Grade: B-C

Columbus, Ohio

It’s time for a forecast in one of our oldest friends. Early in the site’s history we went to Columbus for our forecasts with stunning regularity. We should have a good handle on this, right?

At 851PM, ET, Columbus was reporting mostly cloudy skies with a temperature of 78 degrees. Much of the region is seeing clear skies, A strong, early autumn trough is rotating through the Upper Midwest, while the remnants of Nicholas bring quite a bit of rain to the southeast. Some of that rain fall and moisture is and will continue to be dragged north to the Ohio Valley. At present, there are a few scattered showers over Indiana and Eastern Kentucky, though nothing has filtered into Ohio yet.
A strong ridge on the east coast will shift a bit eastward, helping to enhance the southerly flow towards Columbus, and making the threat of Nicholas related rainfall more likely on Monday. Fortunately, the storm and the attendant precipitation are weaker than they have been. The cold front will charge eastward and will arrive on Tuesday evening. Severe weather may not be the order of the day, but after the forecast period is through, expect a significant change to the weather when the front has passed by.
Tomorrow – Scattered showers with isolated embedded storms, but mostly cloudy otherwise, High 83, Low 68
Tuesday – Rain, increasing late. cooler, High 78, Low 64

TWC: Tomorrow – Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84, Low 68
Tuesday -0 Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. high 78, Low 67

AW: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy and warm; a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon High 82, Low 67
Tuesday – Mostly cloudy with a stray thunderstorm in the afternoon High 77, Low 64

NWS: Tomorrow – A slight chance of showers before 10am, then a chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, High 83, Low 68
Tuesday – Showers likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm High 78, Low 68

WB: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy, a slight chance of showers in the morning then a chance of showers in the afternoon, High 82, Low 70
Tuesday – Showers likely in the morning, then showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, High 77, Low 69

WN: Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy with light rain showers, High 83, Low 68
Tuesday – Mostly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms, High 78, Low 68

FIO: Tomorrow – Overcast throughout the day. High 84, Low 69
Tuesday – Light rain throughout the day. High 76, Low 66

I think wind is going to be a more significant issue than other outlets seem to, and it will be breezy every day. I think it will help force some gaps in the clouds, if nothing else. The clouds are coming already, though.

Feature Forecaster: Kelly Greene

Before the entire planet went bananas, I had reached out to Kelly Greene, a meteorologist at WTHR in Indianapolis about putting together a feature forecast for Columbus, Indiana. She agreed to do so, but was about to take a vacation. and then came back, and despite everything, remembered our conversation. Truly impressive during these incredible times. It’s quite flattering! That’s enough out of me, the rest is all from Kelly.

A strong storm system moved over south central Indiana late day Thursday and Friday.  Heavy rain in excess of 2″ to 3″ fell, with Columbus receiving close to 2″ of rain.  Rivers will rise this weekend, including the Flatrock River and the East Fork White River in Columbus.  Only minor flooding is expected.  
A cold front will bring in much colder air for the weekend, making it feel more like winter instead of the first weekend of spring!  Temperatures will fall behind the front, eventually bottoming out into the upper 20s Saturday morning.  Skies will be partly sunny by Saturday afternoon and the winds will relax.  Afternoon highs will only climb into the low 40s Saturday afternoon, running more than 10 degrees below average.  
Sunday will be a bit warmer with increasing clouds.  Temperatures will start off near 30° in the morning and will rebound into the mid 40s by afternoon.  The next system arrives by mid afternoon, bringing more scattered showers Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.
Spring-like temperatures return for the rest of the week.


Kelly Greene is a meteorologist at WTHR in Indianapolis and lives in Fishers, Indiana with her husband.  Kelly actually lived in Columbus many years ago, and experienced many floods during that time.  Kelly enjoys golf and travel and looks forward to being able to play 18 holes again soon.  

Kelly can be found on social media at the following addresses

Facebook: @kellygreeneweather
Instagram: @Kellygreenewthr
Twitter: @kellygreenewthr