Winter Weather — Summit, Ohio

2019-03-05 · Summit, Ohio

Event narrative

A robust snow shower moved over northeast Summit County, Ohio just before 3 PM on March 5th, resulting in quickly deteriorating visibilities and a quick half inch to inch of snowfall in the Hudson, Stow, and Boston Heights areas. This snow shower moved over State Route 8 and the poor winter weather conditions allowed for a large multi-vehicle accident to develop on the northbound lanes of the freeway between mile markers 12.6 and 11.4. Over 100 vehicles were involved in the incident with 90 vehicles that were towed off the freeway that afternoon. 29 people were reported injured during this event with 3 considered seriously injured. State Route 8 northbound was closed for two and a half hours during the evening rush hour.

Wider weather episode

An arctic air mass over northern Ohio allowed for widespread snow showers to develop during the morning and afternoon hours on March 5th. While snow resulted in minor accumulations over the region, heavier snow showers resulted in short term visibilities under a mile and a quick half inch to inch of snow. One of these snow showers moved over State Route 8 in Summit County, Ohio and the combination of quickly developing poor visibilities and road conditions allowed for a large multi-vehicle accident, resulting in numerous injuries and damaged vehicles.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 815695. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.