Frost could hit parts of Ohio on Friday. But what about the drought, and Hurricane Milton?

As Florida reels from Hurricane Milton , Ohioans are entering the frosty part of autumn while facing a lingering drought that has no end in sight .

The first frost of the year could come as early as Friday morning, according to Raelene Campbell, a meteorologist who works in the Cleveland office of the National Weather Service.

"Mansfield and the entire Richland County area is actually under a frost advisory," Campbell said.

The chilling trend will continue with the potential for a brief freeze as early as next week.

"We're kind of following into that fall-like pattern," Campbell said. "We're going to see our average highs drop into the 60s and average lows drop into the 40s."

Cooler quicker

Projected highs for the next week are 73 on Friday, 68 Saturday, 69 Sunday, 51 Monday, 52 Tuesday, 55 Wednesday and 63 Thursday before warming to about 70 for the following weekend.

Nighttime lows over the same timeframe are 41 on Friday, 53 Saturday, 49 Sunday, 40 Monday, 36 Tuesday, 32 Wednesday, 35 Thursday and then likely into the low 40s by the next weekend.

Sunny days are sure to be welcomed across the Buckeye State, but that daytime pleasure will lead to chilly consequences after sunset.

"When we have clear skies, it tends to cool a lot quicker," Campbell said.

Cloud cover provides some insulation, keeping the ground-level temperature much more comfortable overnight.

When will the drought end in Ohio?

Most of Ohio is still parched from a drought that started making headlines in July .

The dry spell withered crops and has threatened the livelihood of the state's farmers.

More than 80 of Ohio's 88 counties were still highlighted when the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map was released Thursday morning.

The worst of it is in Southeast Ohio, with a wide band of drought stretching northwest to Toledo.

"In order to alleviate this, we kind of need more of that steady rain," Campbell said. "Like, dreary fall conditions where it's kind of gloomy and it's going to consistently rain."

That sort of rainstorm would last hours of even days — no showers of the sort are forecast anytime soon.

"Looking at 6-10 days out, we're looking at below-normal amounts for precipitation," Campbell said.

There's a weak chance of scattered rain showers across Ohio on Saturday, then a slightly better chance Sunday night into Monday morning.

"But overall so far that with how dry everything is, the dry air and everything seems to have been winning out with a lot of these systems," Campbell said. "We still might see some light showers and stuff across the area, but not expecting anything widespread."

Will Ohio be affected by Hurricane Milton?

The devastating rains of Hurricane Milton will not be making their way toward Ohio, either.

"It's actually going to get pushed out into the Atlantic," Campbell said.

Once out in the ocean, the storm is expected to be absorbed into the greater overall weather pattern.

More: Florida picking up the pieces after Milton: 9 dead, 3.2M in dark. Live updates

"It's called the zonal flow," Campbell said. "Essentially it's a flow and pattern that's moving pretty much directly from the west to the east. So, the remnants of that hurricane, they're going to kind of just get sucked into this overall flow, then that'll just take it out into the Atlantic."

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Frost could hit parts of Ohio on Friday. But what about the drought, and Hurricane Milton?