43
Erratic winter weather picks up
YOUNGSTOWN
Don’t put that shovel or snowblower away because the National Weather Service expects four to eight inches of new snow by noon today in the Mahoning Valley.
The snow was expected to start late Friday and not let up until about noon, said Martin Thompson, a hydrometeorological technician with the NWS in Cleveland.
The weather service has a winter weather advisory in effect until 9 a.m. today.
It’s supposed to be partly cloudy tonight with a low around 20 degrees. The weather service is predicting a partly sunny day on Sunday with a high reaching 40 degrees.
The high temperature for Monday will hit the mid-40s with the next chance of snow Monday night, according to the forecast.
When it comes to snow, this January has been inconsistent.
“It’s hard to put your finger on when it will snow,” Thompson said. “There’s been no real long stretches of snow.”
On Jan. 2, 4.8 inches of snow fell, but a total of 1 inch fell during the next 10 days.
Then 4.3 inches of snow fell Jan. 12, followed by 2.3 inches over the next four days.
But that inconsistency recently has changed.
Between Wednesday and Friday afternoon, 6.6 inches of snow fell, with 4 to 8 more inches expected by noon today.
As of Friday afternoon, 20.1 inches of snow fell on the Valley, according to the NWS, which records the area’s weather activity at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna.
The average snowfall for the first 20 days of January in the area is 10.8 inches.
During the first 20 days of last year, 21 inches of snow fell on the Valley.
This snowstorm led a number of local communities to issue parking bans Friday on public streets.
The ban is in effect until further notice in Youngstown. It’s in effect until 6 p.m. today in Austintown, Boardman and Struthers.