health · severe

Freeze warning covers Clark County overnight

The National Weather Service warned of sub-freezing temperatures across Clark County and a wide swath of the region into Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service warned that sub-freezing temperatures would settle over Clark County and much of the region overnight NWS. The Freeze Warning covered the upper 20s and lower 30s and ran from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday NWS.

The LanternAI-drafted · Fact-checked Published Oct 17, 2026

NWSFreeze Warning for Clark County — issued Oct 17, 12:18 a.m.NWSFreeze Warning for Clark County — issued Oct 18, 9:02 a.m.NWSFreeze Warning for Clark County — updated Oct 18, 2:57 a.m.NWSFreeze Warning for Clark County — updated Oct 17, 9:02 p.m.

Illustration: a thermometer on a frosted fence post at night, its column low — Illustration drawn for this story · The Lantern

How the warning evolved

Forecasters first raised the possibility with a Freeze Watch issued Friday afternoon, warning sub-freezing temperatures were possible overnight into Sunday NWS. Just after midnight Saturday, that watch was replaced by the stronger Freeze Warning covering the same counties NWS +1. The weather service updated the warning again Saturday afternoon and once more Saturday night, each time keeping the same forecast of upper-20s-to-lower-30s cold NWS +1.

At 2:57 a.m. Sunday, the weather service issued another update, warning of sub-freezing temperatures as low as 30 degrees NWS. By 9:02 a.m. Sunday, the agency said temperatures were continuing to warm and let the warning run out shortly after NWS.

The warning told residents to take steps right away to protect tender plants from the cold NWS +3.

7 sources

How we know this:

This report is based on Freeze Watch and Freeze Warning alerts issued by the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio, between October 16 and October 18, 2026 NWS +6.

Sources

1Freeze Warning for Clark County — issued Oct 17, 12:18 a.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 17, 2026 · the filing on this pageweather.gov

2Freeze Warning for Clark County — issued Oct 18, 9:02 a.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 18, 2026weather.gov

3Freeze Warning for Clark County — updated Oct 18, 2:57 a.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 18, 2026weather.gov

4Freeze Warning for Clark County — updated Oct 17, 9:02 p.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 17, 2026weather.gov

5Freeze Warning for Clark County — updated Oct 17, 2:54 p.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 17, 2026weather.gov

6Freeze Watch for Clark County — cancelled Oct 17, 12:18 a.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 17, 2026weather.gov

7Freeze Watch for Clark County — issued Oct 16, 1:30 p.m.NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH · Oct 16, 2026weather.gov

Saturday, October 17, 2026Clark County, OH · New CarlislePublic record · NWS Alerts — Clark County, OH

The source filing

Event	Freeze Warning
Message type	Alert
Severity	Severe
Certainty	Likely
Urgency	Expected
Headline	Freeze Warning issued October 17 at 12:18AM EDT until October 18 at 9:00AM EDT by NWS Wilmington OH
Area desc	Wayne; Fayette; Union; Franklin; Ripley; Dearborn; Ohio; Switzerland; Carroll; Gallatin; Boone; Kenton; Campbell; Owen; Grant; Pendleton; Bracken; Robertson; Mason; Lewis; Hardin; Mercer; Auglaize; Darke; Shelby; Logan; Union; Delaware; Miami; Champaign; Clark; Madison; Franklin; Licking; Preble; Montgomery; Greene; Fayette; Pickaway; Fairfield; Butler; Warren; Clinton; Ross; Hocking; Hamilton; Clermont; Brown; Highland; Adams; Pike; Scioto
Effective	October 17, 2026, 12:18 a.m.
Expires	October 17, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Sender name	NWS Wilmington OH
Instruction	Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold.

View the original at weather.gov

Published by National Weather Service (api.weather.gov). This is the agency's public filing as The Lantern received it, shown with its fields named in plain English.