Central Ohio is heading into a soggy Memorial Day weekend, with Columbus and much of the region under a hazardous weather outlook and another round of showers and thunderstorms set to move in around Bruno Mars’s concert at Ohio Stadium on May 22.
The National Weather Service said thunderstorms developing the afternoon and evening of May 19 could become strong to severe, with damaging winds and large hail the main threats. Temperatures were expected to climb near 90 degrees before the storms arrive, and the chance of precipitation was 80% on May 19 and remained at 80% into May 20 as storm chances lingered overnight and into early Tuesday.
That is the kind of forecast that can change plans by the hour. Fans headed to Ohio Stadium for Bruno Mars’s show on May 22 may be dealing with showers and thunderstorms throughout the day and evening, and the chance of precipitation rises to 90% by then. The wet pattern is not a quick hit-and-run system, either. It stretches across several days, with only a brief calming period expected on May 21 before rain chances ramp back up again the next day.
The hazardous weather outlook covers central Ohio, including Columbus, and warns that the storms could turn severe. That makes the threat more than just a nuisance for holiday travelers and concertgoers. In a week built around outdoor plans, the weather setup leaves a narrow window between the early-week storms and the next round of rain heading into the holiday weekend.
By the end of Memorial Day weekend, the unsettled pattern is expected to keep rolling through the region, making dry hours hard to find and turning the forecast into the main thing Columbus will be watching.
