The National Weather Service in Cleveland has issued an update regarding the weather patterns over the Great Lake region. According to their forecast, we can expect a trough to pass through Lake Erie this morning, with a ridge of high pressure rolling in from the Upper Midwest later in the day. For those of you in Ashtabula County and across the state line in Erie and Crawford Counties, Pennsylvania, hold on to your hats because lake-effect snow warnings and advisories are in full swing until this afternoon, as per NWS Cleveland's advisory.
In the near term, which basically means now through Saturday, if you're east of Grand River, you might encounter a band of moderate to heavy lake effect snow that's been hanging parallel to the shoreline since the wee hours of the morning—this isn't the kind of snow you can just brush off your shoulders, folks. There's a chance for snowfall rates to hit 1-2 inches per hour, especially before the dawn fully breaks, but the intensity is expected to decline throughout the morning. The accumulating snowfall should let up later today when drier air and clearing take over the lake, high pressure asserts itself over Ohio, and spirits away those flurries.
Now for your weekend forecast - Saturday night brings another trough that teams up with a dash of Canadian chill to scatter some snow across Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania, don't be surprised if you see up to an inch in the Ohio snowbelt and perhaps 1-3 inches if you're in Erie County, Pennsylvania, all of this courtesy of that Canadian-American meteorological partnership. But as Sunday rolls in, high pressure will clear the skies from west to east and set the stage for what seems to be a warmer Monday.
Looking further ahead into the week, from Tuesday to Thursday, the weather seems to be hedging its bets with a quasi-zonal pattern—that's meteorologist-speak for a more or less straight west-to-east airflow, not too dramatic, but there's a chance we could see some rain showers as those temps inch their way into the 40s, the weather experts over at the National Weather Service Cleveland forecast indicate a change in the air by Thursday that could bring about more rain.
On the maritime front, all you boaters and lake-goers should be aware that Small Craft Advisories are sticking around from Avon Point eastward till the wee hours of Saturday morning, that's 4 AM EST to be precise. What we're looking at is a gusty west wind pushing 15 to 20 knots and navigating 3 to 7-foot waves. Post-advisory, it seems we'll get a bit of a break from headline-worthy marine conditions starting early next week. Just a heads up, come Sunday, the winds get a bit more assertive, blowing northwest, maybe cranking up to 15 knots, before ducking and hiding offshore by late in the day.
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