Winter Storm — Northern Erie, Pennsylvania

2018-03-01 to 2018-03-02 · Northern Erie, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

An area of deepening low pressure moved up the Ohio Valley on March 1st. The low moved across the southeastern corner of Ohio during the afternoon hours. A large area of precipitation fell to the north of the low track. The precipitation initially began as rain but changed to snow during the early evening hours as cold air filtered into the region on the backside of the low. This transition occurred around 6 pm near Lake Erie and between 8 and 9 pm at the southeastern corner of Crawford County. Light to moderate snow then continued for the rest of the night. The heaviest snow fell during the late evening and early morning hours with visibilities a half mile or less. Winds gusted to more than 45 mph during the event. Peak gusts occurred late in the evening and included 54 mph at Erie International Airport and 45 mph at the Meadville Airport in Crawford County. The snow tapered to flurries in the Erie area shortly before daybreak and ended in eastern Erie and Crawford Counties by 9 am on the 2nd. Wind gusts dropped off quickly after midnight on the 2nd and by daybreak were no more than 20 mph. Accumulations of 6 to 10 inches of snow were common across Erie and Crawford Counties. The strong winds caused a lot of blowing and drifting and made driving difficult. Scattered power outages were also reported from the strong winds. In Erie County peak totals of 12 inches were reported south of North East, in Harbor Creek and also just southeast of the City of Erie. Officially, 11.2 inches of snow was measured at Erie International Airport. Other totals from Erie County included: 11.5 inches at McKean; 9.5 inches at Wattsburg; 9.0 inches at Edinboro; 9.0 inches in North East; 7.6 inches at Union City with 7.5 inches at Corry. Many accidents were reported.

Wider weather episode

An area of deepening low pressure moved up the Ohio Valley on March 1st. The low moved across the southeastern corner of Ohio during the afternoon hours. A large area of precipitation fell to the north of the low track. The precipitation initially began as rain but changed to snow during the early evening hours as cold air filtered into the region on the backside of the low. This transition occurred around 6 pm near Lake Erie and between 8 and 9 pm at the southeastern corner of Crawford County. Light to moderate snow then continued for the rest of the night. The heaviest snow fell during the late evening and early morning hours with visibilities a half mile or less. Winds gusted to more than 45 mph during the event. Peak gusts occurred late in the evening and included 54 mph at Erie International Airport and 45 mph at the Meadville Airport in Crawford County. The snow tapered to flurries in the Erie area shortly before daybreak and ended in eastern Erie and Crawford Counties by 9 am on the 2nd. Wind gusts dropped off quickly after midnight on the 2nd and by daybreak were no more than 20 mph. Accumulations of 6 to 10 inches of snow were common across Erie and Crawford Counties. The strong winds caused a lot of blowing and drifting and made driving difficult. Scattered power outages were also reported from the strong winds. In Erie County peak totals of 12 inches were reported south of North East, in Harbor Creek and also just southeast of the City of Erie. Officially, 11.2 inches of snow was measured at Erie International Airport. Other totals from Erie County included: 11.5 inches at McKean; 9.5 inches at Wattsburg; 9.0 inches at Edinboro; 9.0 inches in North East; 7.6 inches at Union City with 7.5 inches at Corry. In Crawford County a peak total of 9.0 inches was reported west of Meadville. Other totals from Crawford County included 8.2 inches in Meadville and 6.5 inches at Drakes Mill. Many accidents were reported.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 745579. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.