Central Ohio Weather and Radar COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- We've enjoyed an exceptionally mild November, with temperatures in central Ohio averaging more than 8 degrees above normal. Rainfalls of up to an inch on Nov. 10 and 14 finally made a dent in the 5-month-long drought. Now the question is: Where is winter? It's coming, or at least the first taste of winter, later this week. Bill to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination inches forward at Ohio Statehouse A deepening pool of cold air will settle over the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes midweek, with a developing wave of low pressure pivoting southeast across northern Ohio on Wednesday. Rain will change to snow Wednesday night, with bands of lake-enhanced snow showers reaching central and eastern Ohio Thursday. Powerful winds gusting between 30 and 40 mph will help draw down much colder air from Canada. Temperatures will plunge from the 50s Wednesday into the 30s early Thursday. The warm ground and air temperatures above freezing will limit snow accumulations, though a light coating of snow could occur over higher elevations. A few inches are likely to cover grassy surfaces north and east of Columbus by early Friday. Temperatures Thursday and much of Friday will hover in the mid- to upper 30s. The wind chill factor will dip into the 20s, making it feel like winter, as winds continue to gust up to 30 mph around a swirling storm sitting over the Great Lakes. Lingering light snow and rain showers will persist on Friday, with little additional accumulations, except in the northeastern snowbelt and northern Appalachians. The first snowfall of the season usually comes in mid- to late November in central Ohio, with an average monthly total of 1.2 inches, so the timing is not out of the normal. Last winter, only the thinnest of dustings did not arrive until December in what turned out to be another very mild winter, registering 12.6 inches of snow in Columbus, which is about half of the average seasonal total (October-May), for the third consecutive winter. The upcoming winter, overall, will reflect the characteristics of a weak La Niña climate pattern in the eastern tropical Pacific, which favors above-average temperatures and below-normal snowfall in the Ohio Valley, yet typically brings a few moderate snowfalls and cold spells in midwinter, as I described in my early winter preview a few weeks ago.