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5 feet and counting: Shocking snow totals in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio

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5 feet and counting: Shocking snow totals in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio

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Pounding snow and bitter cold continued their assault across the nation’s northern tier Monday after dumping five feet of snow in some areas of New York state and three feet or more in parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

The National Weather Service office in Cleveland said snow will continue across the region through Tuesday morning, and “a more persistent band with a Lake Huron connection” will bring 8-15 inches and locally up to 20 inches. Bitter cold temperatures and high winds in some areas will add to the post-holiday level of climate discomfort.

Tom Kines, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said the areas that will be hardest hit Monday and Tuesday would be east of Cleveland and south of Buffalo.

“It’s not as impressive as it was over the weekend, where some places got two, two-and-a-half feet of snow in a day, but there will be places that pick up a foot of snow,” Kines told USA TODAY. “Anyone going from Cleveland to Buffalo this week, there will be times when traveling will be horrendous on Interstate 90.”

The national weather service message was even more blunt: “Whiteout conditions are expected and will make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening.”

Developments:

∎ The cold air rolling over the warm surfaces of the Great Lakes is what is producing the lake-effect bands of snow along the southern and eastern shorelines of the lakes, AccuWeather says.

∎ The frigid conditions and gusty winds could elevate the risk for hypothermia for those trapped on snowbound highways. Reduced visibility in snow squalls raises the risk for multi-vehicle pileups.

‘Terrible idea’: Farmer helps save campers as lake-effect snowstorm slams Northeast

In New York state, the weather service office in Buffalo said moderate to locally heavy lake-effect snow will continue through Tuesday with “significant additional accumulations.” The village of Barnes Coner, New York, 80 miles north of Syracuse on Lake Ontario, already had reported 65.5 inches of snow as of Monday morning. Nearby Copenhagen recorded 58.8 inches of snow and Cassadaga 54 inches since the storm system rolled into the region late last week.

In Ohio, parts of Ashtabula County, which borders Lake Erie 50 miles northeast of Cleveland, one town was hit with almost five feet of snow as of late Sunday night. The town of Saybrook, population 10,000, recorded more than 56 inches of snow. Geneva had 46 inches and Edgewood almost 40 inches.

In Pennsylvania, the Erie County towns of Girard measured 57.5 inches and Northwest Harborcreek saw 48 inches. The weather service office in Gaylord, Michigan, said in a social media post Monday that the office total had climbed to 43.7 inches since Thanksgiving morning “and it’s still snowing.” Moderate to heavy snow will fall over parts of the Upper Peninsula on Tuesday evening into Wednesday, the weather service said.

The cold front that has accompanied the storm has spread over a vast area of the Midwest and Northeast for days. Kines said much of the region could see a 24-hour reprieve in the next day or two before another front provides a “reinforcing shot” of the blustery conditions into the weekend. In areas where the wind strengthens, some temperatures will feel like the teens or lower, Kines said.

“The silver lining is that after the another possible storm early next week it looks like the weather pattern will change a little bit,” Kines said. “We don’t see these arctic intrusions into the Midwest and Northeast.”

Few flight issues were reported at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The New York Thruway, closed in sections for parts of the weekend, was open Monday and had dropped restrictions on commercial vehicles. In Pennsylvania, empty and double trucks were banned on parts of interstates 90, 77 and 86. Some areas also had speed restrictions of 45 mph.

Depending on the location of the heaviest snow coming Monday and Tuesday, travel issues could linger, AccuWeather warned.

“As snow squalls continue to impact portions of I-90 in northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and far southwestern New York into the early week, additional restrictions can occur,” pointed out AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Duffus.

Temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees below average over much of the Midwest and East through Tuesday, the weather service said. Freeze warnings were possible across parts of the Southeast, and parts of northern and central Florida were under a frost advisory Monday morning. Atlanta residents woke up to sub-freezing temperatures.

Winds will return to the Midwest and Northeast in full force this week, making actual temperatures feel even more frigid, AccuWeather said. Wind gusts ranging from 30-50 mph will be possible as a storm dives southward out of Canada across the Great Lakes, resulting in blowing snow. Blustery conditions were forecast to continue into Thursday into the Mid-Atlantic states and to the Northeast coast. 

In New York state, parts of the Jefferson County have already been hit with almost 5 feet of snow in the last few days. When the Lorraine Fire Department was called in Saturday to rescue three stranded campers, they needed help finding them − and cutting a path through the snow. They called on Doug Moore, 36, a beef farmer and lifelong Lorraine resident.

“A guy and two kids thought it was a great idea to go camping in a tent,” Moore told USA TODAY. “It was a terrible idea.”

Moore said the group was “back maybe a mile-and-a-half in the woods and had no idea where they were.” Moore said he was familiar with the area and had a good idea where they could be found. He cut a swath through the snow in his tractor, and fire department rescuers brought the group to the fire station and warmed them up.

“I don’t know what possessed them to camp there,” Moore said Sunday. “But it’s good they are safe because it hasn’t stopped snowing.”

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