All wet waiting for winter wonderland

This is already the eighth-wettest December on record.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Pick your poison — snow or rain.

Between Tuesday and 1 p.m. Thursday, 1.8 inches of precipitation, primarily rain and freezing rain, fell on the Mahoning Valley. The Valley average for that time period is 0.3 of an inch.

We’re not halfway into the month and it’s already the eighth-wettest December on record.

The National Weather Service tracks weather at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. The Valley had 3.83 inches of precipitation recorded through 1 p.m. Thursday for December.

The wettest December occurred in 1990 when 6.53 inches of precipitation was measured.

While there’s no rain in today’s forecast, there’s a 50 percent chance of snowfall.

Also, it’s quite possible that it will be a lot worse Saturday, said Michael Dutter, a weather service meteorologist in Cleveland.

“There could be a significant winter snowstorm or one with freezing rain or sleet starting Saturday afternoon and continuing through Sunday morning,” he said. “The potential exists for a significant storm.”

Snow is also in Monday’s forecast. There is no snow, rain or other form of precipitation in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

For the past few days, Northeast Ohio caught some of the major ice storm that has caused death and destruction in the central Plains and the Midwest.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 0.62 of an inch of precipitation fell on the Valley each day. As of 1 p.m. Thursday, 0.56 of an inch fell at the airport that day.

Last week it was the snow. Between Dec. 3 and last Friday, 13.2 inches of snow fell in the Valley. Overall for the month, we’ve had 13.9 inches of snow.

That is above the average snowfall of 12.2 inches that falls in the Valley for the entire month of December.

To break into the top 10 for December snow, the Valley would need 5.3 more inches to tie 2003 as the 10th snowiest December. The snowiest December on record is 29.5 inches in 1987.

Precipitation is measured by a rain gauge at the airport. Rainfall is a straight measurement; an inch of rain equals an inch of precipitation.

Snow is a bit more tricky because it is considerably less moist than rain. About 10 to 15 inches of snow is typically equal to 1 inch of precipitation.

skolnick@vindy.com