Forecasts on December 4th, 2007 called for a weak, fast-moving clipper to affect much of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and east to the Mid-Atlantic coast. Most forecasts in Ohio had the area south of I-80 down to just north of the Ohio River getting 1-3″ of snowfall, with a potential max of 2-4″ in south-central Ohio from Dayton to Chillicothe.
OHZ045-046-054>056-065-051015- UNION OH-DELAWARE-MADISON-FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-FAIRFIELD- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…MARYSVILLE…DELAWARE…LONDON… COLUMBUS…NEWARK…LANCASTER 355 PM EST TUE DEC 4 2007
…SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST WEDNESDAY…
.TONIGHT…FLURRIES WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW THIS EVENING…THEN SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW LATE. SNOW ACCUMULATION AN INCH OR LESS. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. LIGHT NORTHEAST WINDS…BECOMING SOUTHEAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF SNOW 100 PERCENT. .WEDNESDAY…SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN SNOW LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON. TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 3 INCHES. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH…BECOMING NORTH 10 TO 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF SNOW 100 PERCENT. .WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE EVENING…THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH… DECREASING TO AROUND 5 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Snowfall began in western Ohio at about 10pm and reached central Ohio by midnight on the 4th. It began as flurries and light snow showers but gradually increased in intensity overnight and into the morning of the 5th, becoming heavy at times. By the time that the snowfall ended around 2:30pm in the afternoon, 4-6″ covered most of central Ohio, with the heaviest accumulations right near the I-70 corridor. Another max of snow occurred along a Mansfield to Canton line where a general 4-6″ also occurred.
The night of the 5th-6th brought a cold night for most of Ohio as clear skies after the storm and snow-covered ground sent temperatures far below normal. Most areas saw temperatures in the single digits, and many even fell into the single digits below zero. For Columbus, the low of 9 was the second lowest temperature ever recorded for the 6th of December.
East Broad Street after a snowstorm in March, 1906.
In light of yesterday’s strange storm that challenged local forecasters, I thought it might be time to look at the biggest snowstorms of all time in Columbus, or at least since records began in 1878. I looked up the total snowfall over different periods of time.
