What a difference a year makes. One year ago, as we entered Christmas weekend, we were dealing with a blizzard. We were dealing with snow, high winds and dangerously cold wind chills.
Today, we're talking about a weekend in the 50s.
As chief meteorologist Mark Johnson shows us, it caps a year of weather highs and lows.
The year 2023 started off pretty mild. After a blizzard disrupted holiday plans to end 2022, we only saw 23 inches of snow last winter — far below normal.
“What winter? There's been no snow,” said a snowplow operator who had to deal with a serious damper on his business. “I've never had a year like this. This is the worst year I’ve ever seen for that.”
In fact, warm temperatures at the beginning of March shut down Brandywine Ski Resort for the season.
What we lacked in snowstorms, Mother Nature made up for in spring and summer thunderstorms.
“I got to get my chainsaw out and start cleaning up the area,” said one resident who suffered storm damage on his property.
Northeast Ohio was slammed with two rounds of severe storms in late March and early April.
RELATED: Storms slam Northeast Ohio
FirstEnergy said it was the most damage and outages they've seen in at least eight years. Crews replaced 60 miles of power lines and nearly a thousand utility poles in two weeks.
“It roared like a freight train and then it was done,” said another resident who had trees down on his property.
Our first tornado outbreak hit in June, leaving damage across Northern Ohio.
RELATED: Severe storms bring damage, lightning strikes and tornadoes
"It was something I’ve never seen in my life, and I’m 72 years old,” said one shocked firefighter. “It was horrendous."
A dozen twisters touched down. Oak Harbor was one of the hardest-hit communities.
RELATED: June 15 tornado count increases to 12
“I just saw both of the barns being ripped apart, and that’s when I knew I better get downstairs,” said one Oak Harbor resident. “It’s a mess. It’s a mess. That’s all I can say is, it’s a mess.”
News 5 was there live.
“For two and a half hours, I sat in front of a radar screen yesterday, Bryn, and I looked at colors on the radar, and I said, ‘That's a tornado,’ but rarely do I get to come out and see the damage and actually physically touch it, and it's awe-inspiring to see the power of Mother Nature right here,” Mark reported from the field back in June.
We followed through in July.
“There's no rebuilding this, not like this,” said one devastated property owner.
“It's more than just shingles blown off a roof or windows smashed in — it's about the people who were impacted by that, so that's why we're back; we're following through with tornado damage and seeing where folks are one month down the road from the devastating storm,” Mark said on his return to an impacted area.,
And we continued to follow through in the months that followed.
“A lot of work has been done since we saw you last,” reporter Bryn Caswell said as she toured a property recovering from the storm damage.
“Oh yes, there has been a lot. I got a good crew working for me,” the owner said.
“Do you think there's any silver lining to come from what you've been through?”
“Well, the good lord watched over me; that's all I can say.”
It wasn't just storms last summer. Who could forget the wildfire smoke?
"It is hazy, it is smokey, and it smells," one resident said at the time. “Aair quality was not one of the things I thought would come into play.”
The smoke from those Canadian wildfires blanketed Northeast Ohio in a haze for days.
RELATED: Air Quality Alert issued for Northeast Ohio due to Canadian wildfires
“When we were coming down to land, we couldn’t even see the landing spot because that’s how foggy it was,” a visitor told us.
The smoke canceled popular summer events like Wade Oval Wednesday and forced outdoor summer camps indoors.
"I could definitely smell like a really smokey-like scent in the air when we were out,” said one camp counselor.
From smoke to rain — late August storms flooded entire communities across Northeast Ohio, filling basements with water.
“This is ridiculous, there's nowhere for the water to go,” said a frustrated homeowner.
Roads turned into rivers.
“150th was filled with four feet of water; there's no way to get through,” one commuter said.
Flooding included I-90 on the west side, where people had to be rescued.
RELATED: Multiple rescues after I-90 floods in Lakewood
"I've seen it flooded, but never to the point where it was chest-deep to get people out of the vehicles,” a first responder told us.
Even the Lorain County Fair was forced to close for the day, and a roof collapsed at the Pinball Shoppe in North Olmsted.
“It is a mess out here, and a car on the other side of the building is crushed too, but thankfully, no injuries,” reported Katie Ussin from the scene of the damage.
Months later, we followed through.
“The old building will be torn down. It’s in the process of being demoed right now,” Katie reported.
The Pinball Shoppe reopened in a new location.
“We are a family business, and the family stuck together, and we’re back,” the owner told us.
We also followed through for months as folks in Lorain cleaned up from the flooding.
“[A] lot of people got a lot of damage, and we don’t even know if the insurance is going to cover it,” a resident told us.
“We need help — we need this stuff removed,” another said.
We got answers as they waited weeks for their storm debris to be hauled away.
“News Channel 5, thank you all, because it wasn't just about two hours later, two teams of men and two trucks came through, and the entire area has been cleaned up,” said a grateful resident.
But Mother Nature wasn't done whipping up the winds.
"Midnight hit, the sky went white, and we just heard loud booms. Trees started falling everywhere,” said a resident in the aftermath of another tornado outbreak a day after the August floods.
"You don't know the power of something that's twisting all these trees," said another resident, standing amid a twisted mess of downed trees.
Another 12 confirmed touchdowns, including one in downtown Cleveland.— the first in more than 30 years.
Surveillance video captured the tornado that tore the roof off of the New Life Calvary Church.
RELATED: EF1 tornado confirmed on Cleveland's East Side; trees down, roof ripped off church
“I feel like I’m in a movie,” said one bewildered parishioner.
We followed through as repairs were underway.
"Sometimes you hear the words, it's just a building. But is it just a building? No, it is not just the building it is a sacred holy space,” said a church attendee.
And we were there when Mayor Justin Bibb visited.
“I believe there is a special calling on this church right in the heart of our city,” he said to those gathered there.
Now, it's back to winter.
Our first major snowfall came just days after Thanksgiving, closing schools across Northeast Ohio and making a mess of the morning commute.
In the same year, we were monitoring drought conditions while also experiencing one of our top ten wettest summers ever.
It was an unforgettable year of weather in Northeast Ohio, and News 5’s weather team will be with you next year to report and follow through on whatever the future holds.
