When was our LATEST FIRST SNOW?

A few Facebook comments today asked what the latest first snowfall was in Cleveland?

1948-49  DEC 10TH
1985-86  DEC 2ND
1990-91  DEC 3RD
1994-95  DEC 10TH
2010-11  DEC 1ST

You can include these winters too:

1946-47
1923-24
1918-19


The daily snowfall records are a little hard to come by prior to the mid 1940s. Digging a little deeper, I found that the 1923-24 winter HAD NO SNOW UNTIL JANUARY!

The high temperature on January 1, 1924 was 28. We had 0.07" of precipitation. A strong cold front came through early January 1st. Here are the surface maps for Dec 31st and Jan 1st:

The temperatures behind the front were DEFINITELY cold enough for lake effect snow given the strong NW wind.

So the latest we EVER had measurable snowfall in Cleveland was more than likely JANUARY 1ST during the WINTER OF 1923-24!