SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE
Accumulating snowfall is ongoing across all of Northeast Ohio with slippery/slow-covered roads and very low visibility. Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow. Travel will be dangerous on Sunday and could impact the Monday morning commute.
Due to the heavy snow that is moving east with snowfall rates of 1'' per hour and treacherous conditions on the roads, the National Weather Service expanded and upgraded winter weather alerts.
WATCH: Power of 5 Meteorologist Katie McGraw gave updates on Sunday's storm:
The advisory for the snow belt has been upgraded to a WINTER STORM WARNING for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, and Ashtabula Counties until 7 am Monday.
The WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY was also expanded to include Summit, Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Portage, and Trumbull counties. Other counties already in the advisory include Medina, Lorain, Ashland, Richland, Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Seneca counties in effect from 7 AM Sunday through 7 PM.
The following counties are under SNOW EMERGENCIES:
Level 1: Erie, Holmes and Wayne.
Level 2: Richland and Ashland.
The high temperature on Sunday has already happened and temps will continue to fall throughout the day. As temperatures fall, accumulating snowfall returns. This change looks to happen from 7 am in our western communities until about mid-morning (10 or 11 am).
We should expect another 2 to 5 inches of snow on Sunday, with locally higher amounts in our northern communities and in the snowbelt (especially as lake effect snow is expected to linger on Monday). The lowest totals are expected in our southern communities, south of US-30.
SNOW TOTALS: Snow accumulations will be highest along the lake shore, as after the main batch of snow moves through, lake effect snow will kick in by Sunday evening, adding to the totals for some areas. Many areas will see at least a couple of inches, but half a foot plus will be possible by the end of Sunday night in the Snowbelt region.
Plan for 4-8 inches in the primary snowbelt, 3-5 inches near Sandusky, Tiffin, Wooster and Akron, and 2-4 inches in Canton and New Philly.
IMPACTS: Plan for snowy and slippery roads. Travel could be very difficult on Sunday due to the wintry conditions and low visibility at times. Use extreme caution on the roads and if you can - avoid traveling! From nuisance cold rain that could be heavy at times to accumulating snow, you will be affected by the system in some way - especially if you have any weekend events to get to.
Winds will also be increasing throughout the day which could result in blowing and drifting snow and lowered visibility. Expect NW winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts over 35 mph tonight. The falling temperatures + strong winds will also result in bitterly cold wind chills in the low single digits and below zero. The rest of the work week will be below-freezing!!
We will continue to update this article as needed. Stay safe!
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