US and Great Lakes Snowfall Recap Thus Far

Snowfall across northern Ohio started out impressive in late November. More than 60"+ inches of snow fell in parts of the snowbelt. The most in parts of eastern Lake and the northern 2/3rds of Ashtabula county since the record setting lake effect event in November of 1996.

Photo: NWS Cleveland

Snow across northern Ohio and the Great Lakes started out with a bang in November and December. Here are some great images from Meteorologist Ben Noll showing snowfall vs normal by November 22 around the Great Lakes and nationally.

Snowfall vs Normal through November 22

After the big snow at the end of the month, snowfall recovered fast. Blue and Purple areas indicated WELL ABOVE seasonal snow.

Nationally through December 10:

Here is the snowfall vs normal map through December 18th:

Now snowfall vs normal through January 1st.  Notice how the departures began to drop around the Great Lakes snowbelt areas. Below normal snowfall the latter half of December.  The November snow kept the overall seasonal totals above normal.

National snowfall numbers also started to drop.

The snowfall decline accelerated in January. The snowbelts still had spots with seasonal snow above normal driven by the late November snows. Snowfall was well below normal since January. Much of the interior regions were running well below normal snowfall by early February.

The middle of the US, upper mid-west and most of the Ohio Valley was well below normal by early February.

By March 1st, the seasonal snow across the Great Lakes was almost back to normal. Snowbelt of northern Ohio, PA and western New York only slightly above due to the late November snowfall.

Seasonal snowfall across the US east of the Rocky Mountains through March 1 is characterized like this:

• Well below normal snowfall in the central US, upper mid-west, Ohio Valley including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and parts of New England.

• Slightly above normal snowfall in the Great Lakes snowbelts due to early season snow. Below normal snowfall since January 1st.

• Above normal snowfall in the south from southern Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

• Above normal snowfall along the gulf coast due to the late January record snowfall:

Ohio and Pennsylvania snow depth animation from November 20 through March 3:

My next post will dive into northern Ohio snowfall further comparing this year to years similar