Winter Weather — Northern Erie, Pennsylvania

2025-01-03 · Northern Erie, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

While the heaviest snow with this event focused inland from Lake Erie and just south of the Erie County lakeshore, periods of moderate to heavy snow showers and squalls along with wind gusts up to 30 MPH led to travel impacts and moderate snow accumulations closer to the lake. The most intense snow and greatest impacts occurred during the morning and afternoon on January 3rd. Selected spotter reports from early in the morning on January 3rd through that evening include: 6.3 inches at Erie International Airport, 6.1 inches in Harborcreek, 6 inches in North East, and 5.8 inches in Northwest Harborcreek.

Wider weather episode

Behind a cold front that crossed early in the morning on January 3, 2025, west-northwest winds ushered in colder air across Lake Erie, setting up another round of lake effect snow showers and squalls across Northwest Pennsylvania. The lake effect activity was most intense from late morning through the evening on January 3rd, with activity gradually winding down on January 4th and tapering to flurries or light snow showers January 4th into January 5th. Event total accumulations reached heavy snow criteria across inland Northwest Pennsylvania, which along with wind gusts of 20 to 30 MPH led to a prolonged period of poor travel conditions due to periods of reduced visibility and snow-covered roads. A peak snowfall of 14.4 inches was measured by a trained spotter in Greenwood Township, with a Co-op Observer near Springboro measuring 10.8 inches. A CoCoRaHS observer in Corry recorded 10.9 inches of snow, with 9.5 inches measured by a spotter in Edinboro.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1267293. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.