Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, December 28 to 30, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, December 28 to 30, 2001
Start: 2001-12-28T11:00
End: 2001-12-30T18:00
Location: Pennsylvania

December 28 to 30, 2001 · NWS CLE · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

A cold front moved east across northwest Pennsylvania on the 28th. West winds behind this front caused lake effect snow showers to intensify during the afternoon and evening hours.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $850,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS CLE wrote it up.

A cold front moved east across northwest Pennsylvania on the 28th. West winds behind this front caused lake effect snow showers to intensify during the afternoon and evening hours. Initially, heavy snow fell along the immediate lakeshore with snowfall totals of up to 10 inches reported in northern Erie County by daybreak on the 29th. During the day on the 29th, the flow became more northwesterly spreading the heavy snow into Crawford County. Daytime accumulations of up to 14 inches were reported in both Erie and Crawford Counties. An additional six to eight inches of snow fell from the evening of the 29th to daybreak on the 30th with a maximum of 11 inches in inland Erie County. The snow showers gradually diminished on the afternoon of 30th with daytime accumulations of five inches or less. Snowfall totals for the three day storm ranged from just over six inches in southern Crawford County to as much as three feet near Lake Erie. Officially, 30.0 inches of snow fell at Erie International Airport on the 28th through 30th.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Cleveland, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 28, 10:05 AM EST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 28, 10:05 AM EST, 55 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Crawford

When: December 28, 11:00 AM EST to December 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Crawford forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.685, -80.106 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern Erie

When: December 28, 11:00 AM EST to December 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Northern Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.118, -80.098 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southern Erie

When: December 28, 11:00 AM EST to December 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Southern Erie forecast zone
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.118, -80.098 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, December 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5274424, 5274425, 5274426.