Winter Storm — Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

2018-01-12 to 2018-01-13 · Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

Event narrative

A cold front moved across the upper Ohio Valley early on January 12th. A wave of low pressure developed along the front and moved northeast across eastern Ohio. Cold air moved into the area behind the low causing rain to change to mixed precipitation. This transition began around midday. In most locations the rain first mixed with snow for an hour or two before transitioning to a period of freezing rain. At most locations, the freezing rain lasted two to three hours with up to a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation reported. The freezing rain quickly transitioned to snow as the sun went down and temperatures turned even colder. Light to moderate snow then continued through the evening hours before ending around midnight along the Interstate 71 corridor. It took till almost sunrise before the snow ended across the southeast end of the area. Snowfall totals of 4 to 6 inches were common north of Interstate 76 with 3 to 5 inches further south. In Ashtabula County a peak snow total of 7.4 inches was measured in Monroe Township. The combination of freezing rain and snow created difficult driving conditions although the impact was lessened by the fact that most of the snow fell after the evening commute ended and before the morning commute on the 13th. Peak winds during this event were around 40 mph from the north. Winds lessened during the evening but blowing and drifting snow was reported. Many accidents were reported.

Wider weather episode

A cold front moved across the upper Ohio Valley early on January 12th. A wave of low pressure developed along the front and moved northeast across eastern Ohio. Cold air moved into the area behind the low causing rain to change to mixed precipitation. This transition began around midday. In most locations the rain first mixed with snow for an hour or two before transitioning to a period of freezing rain. At most locations, the freezing rain lasted two to three hours with up to a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation reported. The freezing rain quickly transitioned to snow as the sun went down and temperatures turned even colder. Light to moderate snow then continued through the evening hours before ending around midnight along the Interstate 71 corridor. It took till almost sunrise before the snow ended across the southeast end of the area. Lake Erie helped enhance the snow downwind of the lake late in the event. Snowfall totals of 4 to 6 inches were common north of Interstate 76 with 3 to 5 inches further south. Some of the greatest snow totals were reported in Cuyahoga County where the transition to snow occurred the earliest. Totals in the county included 7.6 inches in North Royalton with 6.0 inches on the west end of Cleveland. Just to the south in Medina County a peak total of 5.8 inches was measured in Lodi. Peak snow totals for the other counties in Northeast Ohio included 5.9 inches at Akron (Summit County); 5.0 inches at Dalton (Wayne County); 4.0 inches in Holmes County; 6.0 inches at Alliance (Stark County); 3.5 inches at Ravenna (Portage County); 4.5 inches near Chardon (Geauga County); 5.0 inches at South Madison (Lake County); 7.4 inches in Monroe Township (Ashtabula County); 6.6 inches at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport (Trumbull County) and 5.5 inches at Boardman (Mahoning County). The combination of freezing rain and snow created difficult driving conditions although the impact was lessened by the fact that most of the snow fell after the evening commute ended and before the morning commute on the 13th. Peak winds during this event were around 40 mph from the north. Winds lessened during the evening but blowing and drifting snow was reported. Many accidents were reported.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 733163. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.