COLUMBUS – Ohio drivers found themselves dealing with January weather, even though Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, thanks to an “arctic airmass” that started in Siberia and has been spilling over a big chunk of the Midwest and East Coast, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow and icy roads made for a slow commute Tuesday morning in much of northeast Ohio. The heaviest accumulations are expected in the snow belt east of Cleveland, with some areas getting as many as 9 inches through Wednesday.
As of 5:30am, ODOT has 1,011 crews out plowing and treating roadways across Ohio. Please give them room to work and be extra alert for icy conditions as pavement temperatures continue to fall. #ODOTwinter pic.twitter.com/fe4z08S7zb
— Ohio Dept of Transportation (@ODOT_Statewide) November 12, 2019
In central Ohio, dozens of schools cancelled or delayed classes amid several inches of snow and near-record low temperatures.
Roads continue to be icy in portions of southern and central Ohio with isolated snowfall possible.
The 2.1 inches of snow recorded at John Glenn Columbus International Airport Monday broke the previous record for Nov. 11 of one-half inch, set in 1983. Cincinnati and Dayton each recorded 2.3 inches of snow, breaking records of 1.3 inches, which had stood since 1894
In the wake of the snow – which was forecast to reach a foot or more in parts of Indiana, Michigan and Vermont – came record cold. Low temperatures in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa could drop into the single digits Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures were forecast below freezing as far south as the Texas Gulf Coast.
Central Ohio saw windchills of 7 to 11 degrees above zero Tuesday morning.
“This is an air mass that’s more typical for the middle of January than mid-November,” National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Birk said. “It is pretty much about the coldest we can be this time of year (and) it could break records all over the region.”
Among the more than 1,000 Ohio Department of Transportation road crews statewide, 175 ODOT crews remained on duty throughout the Central Ohio region, working 12-hour shifts to clear traffic lanes of snow, plow back the shoulders and continue treating ramps and bridges, which freeze first in cold weather.
The National Weather Service says the snow total had surpassed 10 inches at the Buffalo airport as the front moved east and south on Tuesday morning. Rochester will eventually be digging out from a similar amount. Northern New England was expected to get between 7 inches and 14 inches of snow.
Numerous vehicle accidents were reported, as well as school closings and delays in western New York. At least four traffic deaths were blamed on the storm in Kansas and Michigan.
The South also felt the chill with light snow blanketing cars in Memphis, Tennessee. Warming centers opened in the city, where temperatures fell into the low 20s.
Some West Tennessee schools were closed, and about 20 school systems delayed opening across north Alabama.