Winter Storm — Southern Erie, Pennsylvania

2024-01-19 to 2024-01-21 · Southern Erie, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A weak clipper moved across the Ohio Valley on January 19th bringing light snow to the region. As the clipper progressed east into the 20th it intensified off the East Coast as cold air poured into the region. The light snow with the clipper on January 19th was enhanced by moisture picked up off of Lake Erie as colder air poured in. Continued cold air advection behind the East Coast low into the 20th and early 21st allowed lake effect snow showers to continue. There were two periods in which snowfall was steadiest and at times heavy: During the afternoon and early evening hours on January 19th and then from the overnight and early morning hours through the evening on the 20th in locally intense lake effect bands. Snow rates reached 1 inch per hour at times with visibility occasionally falling below a quarter of a mile. Wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour led to patchy blowing snow, especially on the 20th. A trained spotter reported a prolonged storm total of 19 inches in Greenfield Township. Other select spotter reports include 16.4 inches in West Springfield, 16 inches in Edinboro, 15.4 inches in Lowville, 14.9 inches in Colt Station and 12.7 inches in North East Township. A CoCoRaHS observer in Corry recorded 12.2 inches of snow with this storm.

Wider weather episode

A weak clipper moved across the Ohio Valley on January 19th bringing light snow to the region. As the clipper progressed east into the 20th it intensified off the East Coast as cold air poured into the region. Generally light snow with the clipper on January 19th was enhanced by moisture picked up off of Lake Erie as colder air poured in. Continued cold air advection behind the East Coast low into the 20th and early 21st allowed lake effect snow showers to continue, particularly in the higher elevations in southern Erie County and northern Crawford County. There were two periods in which snowfall was steadiest and at times heavy: During the afternoon and early evening hours on January 19th, especially across Erie County, and then from late-evening on the 19th through the evening on the 20th in locally intense lake effect bands, especially across southern Erie County and northern Crawford County. Snow rates reached 1 inch per hour at times with visibility occasionally falling below a quarter of a mile. Wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour led to patchy blowing snow, especially on the 20th. A trained spotter reported a prolonged storm total of 19 inches in Greenfield Township. Other select spotter reports include 16 inches in Edinboro, 15.6 inches in Venango, 13.5 inches in Meadville and 10.5 inches in North East.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1161414. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.