THURSDAY EVENING UPDATE:
Accumulating snow will return to Northern Ohio this week. A strong low-pressure system moving out of California will slide east and over Ohio on Thursday with a lingering trough over the area on Friday into Saturday.
ALERTS:
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Ashtabula and Geauga Counties. It goes into effect 1 a.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday for accumulating snow and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Travel could be very difficult for both commutes on Friday. Slow down and use caution while traveling.
TIMING:
It has been incredibly soggy all day! Widespread, steady rain has been ongoing all Thursday. Many communities have picked up between a half an inch and one inch of rain. As a cold front moves through, temperatures are falling to around freezing by midnight. Behind the cold front, snowy, windy weather will settle in just in time for the Friday morning rush hour.
Everyone gets a good 1-to-2-inches of snow from the initial burst of snow overnight. A warm and wet ground could melt a lot of that off though. Still, plan for a potentially sloppy Friday morning commute. By sunrise on Friday, communities to the southeast will likely be done with snow. However, from Ashland to Elyria, from Cleveland to Akron, and Mansfield to Ashtabula, will continue to deal with lake effect snow and additional accumulation across both the primary and secondary snow belts. Drier air will slide in by Friday night and put an end to the snow.
SNOW TOTALS:
Right now, communities to the south of Canton will receive up to 2 inches of snow. One to three inches of snow is possible for Wooster, Mansfield, Norwalk and Sandusky. Two to fourth inches of snow is possible for Lodi, Akron, Ravenna, Oberlin. Three to six inches is possible from Cleveland to Medina. Meanwhile, the highest totals will likely end up in Eastern Cuyahoga, Northern Geauga, southern Lake and northern Ashtabula. Use these images as a general gauge for the areas expected to see the highest amounts.
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