Weekend storm outdoes ballyhooed 'blizzard'
2/7/2011The much-anticipated Storm of the Century was not even the Storm of the Week in Toledo, at least for total snowfall.
A second snow that on Friday evening was forecast to drop only an inch or so on northwest Ohio on Saturday instead delivered 6.6 inches to Toledo Express Airport, beating by 0.1 an inch the total snow that fell at the local airport between Monday and Wednesday.
Frank Strait, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said forecasters observed during the midnight shift Saturday that the storm tracking from the Deep South toward New England was taking a more northerly path than expected, and revised the Toledo-area forecast to 2-3 inches then. Only when the day shift came to work on Saturday did it become clear that the low-pressure center would come across central Ohio, he said.
"Some of the dynamics were especially strong over northwest Ohio," he said yesterday, and that was where the heaviest snow fell.
Along with the Toledo total, National Weather Service spotters reported 7.5 inches in the Henry County village of McClure, 6 inches in Bryan and near Deshler, 5 to 6 inches in Oak Harbor, 4.9 in Woodville, and 4 in Fremont and Findlay.
In southeast Michigan, 5.7 inches fell in Maybee, 5.5 in Blissfield, and 3.2 in Tecumseh. Monroe and Lenawee counties had received the Toledo area's heaviest snowfalls during the storm earlier last week. Much of the region has a foot of snow on the ground.
Although the latest storm was a slightly bigger snowmaker for Toledo, it lacked the sleet and high winds that made traveling treacherous Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Most area emergency-management agencies issued only minimal alerts to advise motorists of snow cover on secondary and rural roads.
Another, weaker storm passing through the region yesterday brought 0.4 inch to the airport during the day and was forecast for an additional inch or two overnight. Some areas, including downtown Toledo, had some freezing drizzle last night, making some untreated areas slippery.
More light snow showers were forecast today and tomorrow before an Arctic front sweeps through the Great Lakes, bringing clearer but much colder weather to Toledo. Daytime highs Wednesday and Thursday are likely to be in the teens.
"It's definitely going to be cold later in the week," Mr. Strait said.