Lake-Effect Snow in Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

An area of low pressure moved across the upper Ohio Valley on December 24th. This low moved into western Pennsylvania during the evening hours. Very cold westerly winds behind this front caused lake effect snow showers to develop with the snow beginning in northern Ashtabula County during the evening of the 24th. The snow picked up in intensity on the 25th with moderate to heavy snow then continuing into the 26th. Most of 25th and 26th, the snow showers were confined to the northern third of Ashtabula County with the greatest accumulations near and along Interstate 90 across the northeast end of the county. The heavier snow showers eventually found their way to Lake County on the 26th with greatest accumulations at the east end of the county. The snow began to diminish during the late evening hours of the 26th but didn't taper to flurries till the afternoon of the 27th. Snowfall totals for the 72 hour period beginning on the evening of the 24th through late day on the 27th ranged from more than three feet in northeastern Ashtabula County to over a foot across eastern Lake County. Over a foot of snow fell across the northern tip of Geauga County but the snow wasn't widespread enough to cause any significant problems in that county. Dozens of accidents were reported. Southwest to west winds gusted to as much as 35 mph during this event causing whiteout conditions at times. Holiday traffic was severely hampered by this storm as numerous accidents forced the closure of Interstate 90 and other roads at times. Clean up from this storm took several days.

In Ashtabula County, a peak three day snowfall total of 39.3 inches was reported at Conneaut with 32.8 inches just to the south in North Kingsville. Other totals from the county included: 32.5 inches at Ashtabula; 31.3 inches in Monroe Township; 19.5 inches in Kellogsville, and 16.6 inches at Geneva.

An area of low pressure moved across the upper Ohio Valley on December 24th. This low moved into western Pennsylvania during the evening hours. Very cold westerly winds behind this front caused lake effect snow showers to develop with the snow beginning in northern Ashtabula County during the evening of the 24th. The snow picked up in intensity on the 25th with moderate to heavy snow then continuing into the 26th. Most of 25th and 26th, the snow showers were confined to the northern third of Ashtabula County with the greatest accumulations near and along Interstate 90 across the northeast end of the county. The heavier snow showers eventually found their way to Lake County on the 26th with greatest accumulations at the east end of the county. The snow began to diminish during the late evening hours of the 26th but didn't taper to flurries till the afternoon of the 27th. Snowfall totals for the 72 hour period beginning on the evening of the 24th through late day on the 27th ranged from more than three feet in northeastern Ashtabula County to over a foot across eastern Lake County. Over a foot of snow fell across the northern tip of Geauga County but the snow wasn't widespread enough to cause any significant problems in that county. Dozens of accidents were reported. Southwest to west winds gusted to as much as 35 mph during this event causing whiteout conditions at times. Holiday traffic was severely hampered by this storm as numerous accidents forced the closure of Interstate 90 and other roads at times. Clean up from this storm took a couple days.

In Ashtabula County, a peak three day snowfall total of 39.3 inches was reported at Conneaut with 32.8 inches just to the south in North Kingsville. Other totals from the county included: 32.5 inches at Ashtabula; 31.3 inches in Monroe Township; 19.5 inches in Kellogsville, and 16.6 inches at Geneva. In Lake County, a peak total of 16.8 inches was reported near Madison.