We have been seeing some lake enhanced and lake effect snow showers for the last two days, but many communities have not seen much accumulation with the exception of inland Ashtabula County, such as in Jefferson and Pierpont.
Below are snowfall totals from the National Weather Service in Cleveland that were updated Thursday morning.
HOWEVER, we are not done with the snow.
A new area of low pressure and a cold front will move in from the west Thursday night into Friday morning bringing widespread snow to the area overnight and will continue into Friday with lake effect snow lingering into the weekend.
WINTER ALERTS have been expanded in both time and area to take into account this widespread snow.
- A lake effect snow warning has been extended until 7 a.m. Sunday for Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties.
- A lake effect snow warning has been issued until 7 p.m. Saturday for Cuyahoga, Summit, and Portage counties.
- A winter weather advisory has also been issued for Lorain, Medina, Stark, Trumbull and Mahoning counties until 1 p.m. Saturday.
Timing:
- Periods of light to moderate snow will continue this evening and overnight.
- Then, as the system approaches, a burst of widespread snow areawide is expected to move in from the west overnight and into early Friday.
- Heavier lake effect snow returns Friday morning and will persist into the weekend, with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour possible at times.
- Note in the graphics below that scattered snow looks to continue for much of the area on Friday, and bands of lake effect snow could linger for some until early Sunday.
Impacts:
- Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous.
- Travel could be very difficult to impossible.
- Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.
- The hazardous conditions could impact both commutes on Friday.
- Wind chills will fall into the single digits Friday night into Sunday morning.
Expected Snowfall Totals:
- As always, there will be a large range of snowfall totals when everything is said and done.
- All of Northeast Ohio should count on 3 inches or less by Friday morning due to the burst of snow overnight.
- The highest totals will come from bands of lake effect snow and are expected to be in southern Lake, eastern Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Central Ashtabula Counties. Over 5 to 12 inches will be a possibility by the end of Friday.
- Cleveland and Akron areas could end up with 2-5 inches, with locally higher amounts by Friday night.
- Lake effect snow will be lingering on Saturday for our eastern communities, bringing additional accumulation than what this map shows below. We will keep you updated!
P.S. Once this round of snow comes to an end this weekend, we will be focused on THE NEXT system that looks to arrive late Sunday and continue into early Monday. We will be keeping a close eye on the track of that system over the next several days.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik announced the City of Akron is extending hours at the Summit Lake Community Center from Jan. 5-10 to provide a warming center for residents in need.
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