CLEVELAND — The winter storm we were waiting all week for in Northeast Ohio finally arrived on Thursday. Make no mistake, the heavy snow, sleet, and ice have definitely caused havoc for just about everyone in our area.
The biggest question now is: When will it end, and what can we expect in terms of the aftermath?
Weather timeline
Let's first get a sense of when the storm will be coming to a close from 3News Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling. "Once we get to midnight, that's when we should expect improving conditions from west to east," says Betsy. "By tomorrow morning (Friday), we should have some residual snow that moves through." Temperatures at the start of the day will only be in the teens, with wind chills below zero in some areas.
"We'll hold on to some flurries as we get into the afternoon, but then by evening, we're done," Betsy adds with a sigh of relief.
Most everyone in Northeast Ohio will have received 8-11 inches of snow by the end of the event (some will get a little more, some a little less). South of Canton will see somewhere around 5-8 inches on top of a glaze of ice. But keep in mind, there will be plenty of high winds to cause some drifting in many areas. And as Betsy always reminds us, the impact is more important to focus on than the numbers.
School closings
Hundreds of districts across Northeast Ohio had classes cancelled or moved to remote learning on Thursday. We expect that to be the case once again on Friday.
Is your school closed? CLICK HERE to see the current list of school closings, which is updated in real time once schools announce they're closed.
Road conditions
The good news is that many of you stayed off of the roads on Thursday evening to give our friends at ODOT, the Ohio Turnpike, and city plows a chance to get some work done.
The bad news is the roads are still taking a beating because of the snow combined with the blowing winds that Betsy mentioned earlier. Check out this photo of I-90 and I-77 in downtown Cleveland that ODOT took just before 11 p.m.
The bottom line is the crews need time to do their jobs overnight.
ODOT says their goal is to have the average traffic speed on primary routes back to within 10 mph of the posted speed limit within two hours after the storm ends. For secondary routes, that goal is four hours.
Meanwhile, the city of Cleveland reports that plow crews have attended to main streets multiple times and nearly a quarter (24%) of residential streets have been plowed. "Our crews are focused on completing residential streets overnight," the city wrote in a tweet.
As we sent crews out and about in the downtown area on Thursday evening, it was apparent that there was still plenty of work to be done on some of the city's main roads. For example, watch Betsy Kling's walk through downtown here.
Hunter Saenz also captured videos of roads in downtown Cleveland.
Snow parking bans
Many communities are continuing their snow parking bans throughout the day on Friday and into Saturday. That means vehicles in violation by parking on the street could be ticketed and towed. You can see which communities have issued a parking ban with our list HERE.
More Winter Weather Coverage:
- LIVE BLOG | Winter storm in Northeast Ohio: Real-time updates and traffic conditions as snow impacts the region
- SNOW good deed goes unrecognized! Share your heartwarming winter-related stories with us
- Level 3 Snow Emergency issued in multiple Ohio counties: Here's what that means for you
- Level 2 Snow Emergency issued for Summit, Portage, and Lorain counties: Here's what that means for you