Winter Storm — Knox, Ohio

2020-12-24 to 2020-12-25 · Knox, Ohio

Event narrative

Snow quickly entered Central Ohio during the late afternoon hours on the 24th. By evening, snowfall rates increased to one inch per hour or higher as more organized snow bands moved through the region on the northwest side of the low pressure system and visibility dropped to a half mile or less. By midnight, snow amounts of 6 to 7 inches were reported across Knox County and area roadways were difficult for travel. Residual snow continued across the region through Christmas Day and additional accumulations were minor. Impacts across the region were limited to mostly travel impacts as the holiday already closed schools and businesses. The maximum snowfall for this event in Knox County was southeast of Centerburg, where a co-operative observer recorded a total of 8.5 inches of snow by late morning on the 25th. Other selected storm totals include: 7.4 inches in Fredericktown, 7 inches in Martinsburg, and 6 inches in Danville.

Wider weather episode

A two-part winter storm event hit northern Ohio for Christmas 2020. Low pressure developed over the southeastern United States on Christmas Eve and moved up the spine of the Appalachian Mountains through the day. Moderate to heavy snow entered northern Ohio late afternoon on Christmas Eve with the northwest side of this system. By evening, snow became more organized across the area and snow bands, producing one to one and a half inch per hour snowfall rates, raked across the region, especially portions of Mid-Ohio. Snow was heavy enough at times to cause major issues on local interstate highways and portions of Interstate 71 in Richland County and the Ohio Turnpike in Lorain County were closed during the nighttime hours on Christmas Eve. Snowfall amounts across the region were between 6 and 12 inches of snow with the first part of the event. The low quickly departed out of the region after midnight on Christmas morning, but very cold air infiltrated the region. This air mass, along with a wide open, warmer Lake Erie, allowed for lake effect snow to develop across the traditional primary and secondary snow belt region of Northeast Ohio. While initial snow was a more multi-banded setup during the day on Christmas, eventually snow became more organized into a single dominant band across Lake Erie by the evening hours. This band set up along the lakeshore portions of Lake and Ashtabula counties and several hours of 2 to 3 inch per hour snowfall rates were observed with this lake effect snow band. Nearby Interstate 90 was heavily impacted by snow on Christmas night. Snow became more unorganized during the early morning hours of the 26th and conditions improved for most areas by daybreak. With the lake effect portion of the event, accumulations were mostly confined to the snow belt region. The lakeshore areas of Lake and Ashtabula counties received an additional 6 to 18 inches of snow. The primary snow belt counties had a more even distribution of 4 to 6 inches of snow, trailing to 2 to 4 inches into the secondary snow belt. The highest total snowfall measurement for the event in Ohio was 29.2 inches by a trained snow spotter and CoCoRaHS observer in the village of Madison in northeast Lake County. Snowfall totals from area climate sites include: 10.7 inches at Youngstown-Warren Airport, 10.5 inches at Akron-Canton Airport, 10.2 inches at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and 6.4 inches at Mansfield Lahm Airport. Impacts during the event were very limited to travel, as schools and businesses were closed due to the holiday. There were no known injuries or fatalities in Ohio due to the winter storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 935199. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.