Winter Storm — Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

2019-01-19 to 2019-01-20 · Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

Event narrative

Snow spread into northeast Ohio during the afternoon hours of January 19, as low pressure moved into the Ohio Valley region. Snow was very light to start, but by the evening on the 19th moderate-to-heavy snow moved into the area with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour. Snowfall rates quickly lessened by the morning hours of the 20th and snow lingered through the afternoon hours before dissipating. Strong northeast to northwest winds accompanied the snow with gusts in excess of 25 mph for much of the storm, allowing for considerable blowing and drifting. Travel was severely disrupted by this storm. Roads in rural areas were nearly impassable at times. However, this snow event occurred over the MLK holiday weekend, allowing for generally minimal impacts, as schools were closed. Numerous businesses and churches were closed for the weekend. In the northern half of Ashtabula County, snowfall totals ranged from 6 to 12 inches of snow for the event. A peak total of 12 inches of snow was recorded on the south side of Ashtabula. 6 inches of snow was recorded in Conneaut.

Wider weather episode

A low over the Southern Plains on January 18 deepened as it tracked northeast to the lower Ohio Valley on January 19, eventually reaching the upper Ohio Valley early on January 20. Heavy snow associated with this low entered northwest Ohio early Saturday morning and quickly spread east across northern Ohio by early afternoon on the 19th. As this low pressure moved northeast during this time, some warm air entered the area and allowed for some freezing rain and sleet to develop in areas along and south of US Highway 30 in Ohio for some time in the afternoon on the 19th. Up to 0.15' of freezing rain and an inch or two of sleet was observed in these areas before switching back to all snow. Meanwhile, much of northern Ohio had at least 6 inches of snow with many counties seeing an average of 8 to 10 inches of snow. Areas along Interstate 71 in north central Ohio and Interstate 76 in northeast Ohio had some of the highest snowfall amounts in the state with this system with many areas exceeding a foot of snow. Snow exited the area by the morning of the 20th but some lake effect bands developed over Northeast Ohio and added another 1 to 4 inches of snow, mostly across the secondary snowbelt. Winds during this event were strong with 15 to 25 mph sustained winds and occasional gusts to 35 to 40 mph. However, due to the density of the snow, visibilities across the area never settled under a half a mile for a long duration and an blizzard-like conditions were isolated, at best. The highest snowfall total in Ohio was in the Homerville area of Medina County, where almost 20 inches of snow was measured. Snowfall totals from area climate sites include: 14 inches at Mansfield Lahm Airport, 8.6 inches at Akron-Canton Airport, 8.5 inches at Youngstown-Warren Airport, 8 inches at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and 4.7 inches at Toledo Express Airport. This snow event occurred over the MLK holiday weekend, allowing for generally minimal impacts, as schools were closed. Numerous businesses and churches were closed for the weekend. There were numerous accidents and road closures during this event and Level 2 and 3 Snow Emergencies were issued by many counties across the area. Luckily, there were no known injuries or fatalities due to the winter storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 804784. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.