History of Snowfall After March 20

We usually see snow after the first day of spring. Rarely does this NOT happen. How often?  Here is a nice calendar of ALL of the snowfalls in Cleveland since the late 1800s.

A few things to note as you read the chart.  For March, only snows greater than one inch. Between April 1 and 15, only snows at/greater than 1/2".  Between April 16-30, snow amounts greater than 0.1".  After May 1st, all snows including trace amounts.  I color coded select ranges for easy reference.

The latest snow (trace) was May 27, 1927

Note there has been no snow after May 27.  Any frozen precipitation after May 27 was hail.

Late April Snowfall: How Rare is this?

Yes, it's April 20 and we are talking about accumulating snow!

Sure we've seen late season snow before. It snowed in mid-April in 2019.

...and it snowed in May 2016 (under an inch).

In fact 16 of the last 20 years has featured measurable snowfall after the first day of spring. Over the last 30 years April has featured snowfall almost half of the time. But snow that need shoveled after April 20 is something else entirely.

Below is a calendar of each day starting on March 20 showing the snowfalls for each day. Notice how the frequency of snow drops significantly once we make it through the first 10 days of April. Interestingly we've only had 3 snow events greater than 2" after April 20th. Two of those occurred in 2005. (I remember driving home from work during that big snow on the 24th).  The other one was on May 6, 1974.  We've had snow in May but never more than 2 inches.

The late April snow in 2005 was historic for northern Ohio.  Look at the similarities between this year's pattern and 2005. Position of storm center is close.  2005 was much deeper.

Bigtime cold across the Great Lakes and New England (April 2005)

Much of northern Ohio saw more than a foot of snow that year in late April

This time the overall pattern was showing signs of stronger weather systems by the 3rd week of April (shades of blue).   My tweet from April 5th below.

The cold was building a week ago in central Canada as this temperature animation below shows. This loop is from April 15 to April 29.  Not much warmth here.

Snowfall accumulation is much different this time of year due to warmer ground and road surface temperatures.  These numbers are mainly for grassy surfaces.  Snowfall on roads and sidewalks will end up being under these levels. Sun angle is much higher so any sunshine will accelerate snow melt Wednesday and Thursday. 

Snowfall forecast could mark only the 4th time we've had more than 2" of snow this late in the season.

By the way, this snow doesn't give us any indication of what the rest of spring and summer will be like. More on the summer outlook in the weeks ahead. 

How Historic Is This April Cold? April Snow?

There is little sign that this cold April will end anytime soon.  The cold air this weekend will be similar to last weekend. In fact, the 850mB (5000 ft) temps over Lake Erie, the key component for determining lake effect snow amounts, might crack the top 5 coldest ever for the month of April since 1950!   Here is the list per the NWS

 Both the GFS and the European show pretty much the same amount of cold as of this writing.

The pattern shows some signs of moderation across the eastern US but not until at least the midway point of the month. Another wave of colder air will follow this weekend's cold by the middle of next week.

The lack of snowfall this winter is almost historic. So far, our season snow total is the lowest since the winter of 1931-32.

April snowfall of at least one inch happens roughly 50% of the time. Here is a look at the percentage of seasonal snowfall in April.  This past weekend's snowfall brings this year's percentage up to 5%. Expect snow chances to climb with each burst of colder air through the middle of the month.

10 Year Anniversary of BIGGEST Late Season Snow Ever

I remember it well.

After the 10pm news on the evening of the 24th, I started my trek home along I-90 in Cleveland then south on I-71. The snow depth was approaching a foot.  It was a heavy, wet snow.  I hit something buried in the snow on the interstate which flattened my right front tire. I literally drove on the rim the entire way home because I didn't want to risk stopping on the side of the road assuming I could find it. Countless cars and trucks trying to find the easiest path to take without losing control. Our top speed was 25 mph for 40 miles.  After about 20 miles on the interstate, I decided to take a state route home.  If I needed to stop, I'd rather do it on a road that had strip malls and small businesses.  If I needed to call a family member to pick me up, better to do it from a parking lot than on the side of a major interstate with Tractor Trailers bearing down on you.

The temperatures at 850 mB (5000 feet) were very cold across the Great Lakes.  Notice how the core of the cold evolved and tracked west to east from early on the 23rd shortly before the snow began.

The 850 mB temperatures today are similar to the late April 24th reading:  -7 to -9. 

The difference is we don't have a major synoptic storm system today to produce widespread heavy snow this time around.

Radar image from 7:45am on April 23, 2015 for northern Ohio

The 2005 event developed as a east coast low which retrograded west continued to expand both at the surface and in the upper levels. By the 26th, it was absorbed into the mid-latitude trough in the middle of the US. 

The last 12 days of April ranged from lower 80s on the 19th to snow by the 23rd. By the 26th, daytime temperatures rose into the 60s with the majority of the snowfall melted away.

I wish we had photos of the May 10th snow back in 1907..the latest snow on record in Cleveland.