Heavy Snow, Northern Erie
- When
- January 11, 2:00 AM EST to January 12, 1:00 AM EST
- Where
- Northern Erie forecast zone
- Property damage
- $150,000
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 42.118, -80.098 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, January 11 to 12, 2003
After a brief lull, lake effect snow activity picked up again during the early morning hours as cold winds blowing across Lake Erie became more westerly. The snow peaked in intensity during the middle part of the day.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $150,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
After a brief lull, lake effect snow activity picked up again during the early morning hours as cold winds blowing across Lake Erie became more westerly. The snow peaked in intensity during the middle part of the day. Westerly winds gusting to 30 mph caused considerable blowing and drifting and up to 10 inches of snow fell along the Erie County lakeshore during the day. Officially, 9.2 inches of snow was recorded at Erie International Airport. 6.6 inches of this total fell between daybreak and 1 pm.
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 Jan 10, 2:15 PM EST, 11 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 10, 2:15 PM EST, 11 hours 45 minutes before
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</html>Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 10, 5:08 AM EST, 20 hours 52 minutes before
OHZ003-006>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-089-PAZ001>003-101200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 508 AM EST FRI JAN 10 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MUCH OF NORTHERN OHIO AND A PORTION OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY ARCTIC AIR WILL CAUSE LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE TONIGHT. LOCALLY SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY OCCUR MAKING DRIVING HAZARDOUS. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON A LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT IS CONTAINED IN THE CLEWSWCLE PRODUCT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... DEPENDING ON WIND DIRECTIONS AND OTHER FACTORS...SOME LOCATIONS MAY CONTINUE TO SEE LOCALLY HEAVY LAKE EFFECT SNOWS THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND AGAIN BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT BUT SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM SPOTTERS LATE TODAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND WILL BE HELPFUL. ADAMS
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Wildfire in California, January 11 to 31, 2003
- Dense Fog in California, January 11 to 17, 2003
- Extreme Cold in Georgia, January 11 to 19, 2003
- Heavy Snow in New York, January 11, 2003
- Strong Wind in New Jersey, January 11, 2003
- Heavy Snow in West Virginia, January 11, 2003
- High Wind in Oregon, January 11, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, January 11, 2003
- Winter Storm in California, January 11 to 12, 2003
- Strong Wind in Delaware, January 11, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Maryland, January 11, 2003
- Heavy Snow in New York, January 11 to 12, 2003
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, January 2003
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5339406.