If it feels like Erie County has been under siege by winter for more than a week straight, a look out your window is probably enough to support your feelings.
But the feet of snow that have piled up since late Thanksgiving Day are the result of two distinct lake-effect events, Nov. 28 through Tuesday and again Thursday through Saturday morning. And the National Weather Service in Cleveland has the estimated snowfall totals to affirm just how vicious that first event was to the county and beyond.
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Why Erie County got so much snow
The backstory, from the weather service: The coldest air of the season to that point met above-normal water temperatures on an open Lake Erie starting Thanksgiving Day. Those conditions resulted in a single dominant lake-effect band that produced snowfall at rates of 1 inch to 3 inches per hour, especially in Erie and Crawford counties and in Lake and Ashtabula counties in Ohio.
After about 12 hours, Ashtabula County had about a foot of snow on the ground in places. Within 24 hours, reports from Erie County were of 2½ feet in places. On Nov. 30, in peak snowfall areas, reports were of more than 3 feet before the wind briefly shifted and a lull was sliced into the storm.
Lake-effect snow returned Sunday, though, and continued through Tuesday, by which time snow measurements were 2 feet to 5 feet across the snowbelt.
A break Wednesday gave way to the second event, and those lake-effect conditions dropped additional snow around the area Thursday through Saturday morning, when the most recent lake-effect warning from the weather service in Cleveland was allowed to expire.
How much snow fell around Erie County Nov. 28-Dec. 3?
The weather service makes official observations at Erie International Airport, but also has trained volunteer snow spotters, cooperative observers and Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow members who report on weather elsewhere in the area. Their observations are unofficial by weather service standards, but unofficial or not, they pass the eye test outside our doors. Keep in mind these inch counts are only through the evening of Dec. 3 or morning of Dec. 4; the Dec. 5-7 totals are not included.
Erie County unofficial snow totals after Dec. 3
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Southeast Harborcreek Township, 61 inches
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East-southeast Harborcreek, 59.7 inches
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Northwest Harborcreek, 55.2 inches
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South Wesleyville, 55 inches
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West Colt Station, 54.7 inches
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West-northwest North East, 53 inches
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East-southeast Erie, 50 inches
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Erie International Airport, 49.4 inches
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Northwest Harborcreek, 48.5 inches
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Northwest Edinboro, 45.5 inches
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West-southwest Erie, 43.8 inches
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West-northwest North East, 43.3 inches
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Southwest Wesleyville, 42.2 inches
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East Edinboro, 38.9 inches
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North-northwest Corry, 24.2 inches
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West-Northwest Union City, 22.3 inches
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Crawford County unofficial snow totals after Dec. 3
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Northwest Venango, 38 inches
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West-northwest Springboro, 34.4 inches
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Southwest Canadohta Lake, 14.1 inches
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North Meadville, 9.7 inches
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Southeast Meadville, 7.7 inches
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Northeast Cochranton, 5.4 inches
Ashtabula County, Ohio, unofficial snow totals after Dec. 3
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North-northeast Saybrook, 63.2 inches
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North-northeast Geneva, 50.5 inches
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South Ashtabula, 40 inches
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East South Madison, 37.8 inches
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South Kingsville, 34 inches
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East-northeast Trumbull, 25 inches
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North-northeast Andover, 9 inches
Stay up to date on Erie-area weather
Return to GoErie.com for updates. Get the latest AccuWeather forecast details and radar images for your ZIP code at goerie.com/weather. Download the GoErie app for iOS or Android for mobile-friendly forecasts. Tour Erie-area conditions by webcams.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: How much snow fell around Erie Pa during Thanksgiving weekend storm?
