Winter Storm — Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

2020-12-24 to 2020-12-26 · Ashtabula Lakeshore, Ohio

Event narrative

Snow quickly entered Northeast 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. After midnight, snow associated with the low pressure system began exiting the region and the event transitioned to lake effect snow. A multi-banded lake effect snow event continued through the morning and afternoon hours of the 25th, impacting the secondary snow belt counties with additional snowfall accumulation. During the evening of the 25th, the lake effect snow event became much more organized into a single banded event that primarily impacted the lakeshore region of the Northeast Ohio snow belt. In Ashtabula County, this band was the most intense with snowfall rates of 2 inches or more per hour. Impacts across the region were limited to mostly travel impacts as the holiday already closed schools and businesses. Interstate 90 was heavily impacted on Christmas night with many accidents across Ashtabula County. The maximum snowfall for this event in northern Ashtabula County was in Saybrook Township, where a trained snow spotter recorded a total of 28 inches of snow by late morning on the 26th. Other selected storm totals include: 22 inches in Conneaut, 21.8 in the Edgewood area of Ashtabula, 19 inches in Geneva, and 15 inches in Ashtabula.

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 935261. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.