Snow so far for Northeast Ohio third lowest in history

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Snow accumulation in Northeast Ohio for this winter season so far is the third-lowest in history, with records going back to the 1800s, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said.

The NWS predicted that parts of Northeast Ohio will get at least 6 to 12 inches of snow by Saturday morning. But the area is still way under when it comes to its average amount of snow this time of year, said NWS meteorologist Salix Iverson.

The accumulated normal snowfall for just the month of December in Northeast Ohio is 12.2 inches; normal snowfall between December and January is 16.8 inches; and normal snowfall in January in Northeast Ohio is 35.2 inches, Iverson said.

This season, the area is at 1.6 inches of snowfall, Iverson said.

“We are just in the first week of January so we will have a couple more weeks to build up some accumulation,” she said. “But we had a really dry December. And mild as well, so that didn’t help with our snowfall totals for the month of December.”

The region is way below average for snowfall, Iverson said, but there is still a ways to go with winter.

“We’ll have to wait and see how lake effect picks up throughout the month of January, if we can rack in more inches of snow,” Iverson said.

A snowplow carrying salt works January 7, 2022, on cleaning the fast lane on Route 2 eastbound in Willoughby from the lake effect snow that gives Northeast Ohio its first substantial snowfall accumulation this winter.