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Less snow in the Valley is expected this winter compared to recent ones
YOUNGSTOWN
It looks like the Mahoning Valley isn’t going to get buried in snow this winter as it often has in recent years.
And Eric Wilhelm, chief meteorologist for 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, said the winter temperatures will be lower than average, but the weather won’t be as cold as last winter.
Martin Thompson, a hydrometeorological technician with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said snow in the Mahoning Valley “will be below normal from November through April. This past winter was brutal. A lot of people couldn’t handle another winter like that, and it doesn’t look like they will have to. We won’t get that much [snow] this winter.”
The long-range NWS forecast says there will be below-average snow. The area’s snowfall average is 70 inches a winter.
This winter should be quite different from what the Valley has experienced since 1996.
The top-five winters with the most snowfall accumulation in the Valley occurred between the 2006-07 winter and last winter, according to NWS data, which dates back to 1897. The most was 118.7 inches in the 2010-11 winter. Last winter’s 90.1 inches of snow was the fourth-most for the area.
However, Wilhelm said his calculations show the amount of snowfall this winter “will be a little more than average. But it won’t be as bad as the past few years.”
So far, the Valley is off to a good start.
There is usually 8 inches of snowfall in October in the Valley. The area finished the month with no snow.
Also, Wilhelm said he’s expecting “winter to be colder than average. It will be a nasty one in terms of temperatures, and people are not going to like it. But it won’t be as cold as last” winter.
The average temperature between December and March in the area is 30.4 degrees. It was 25.3 degrees between December 2013 and March 2014.
The weather service’s forecast determines there’s an equal chance of temperatures being average, above average and below average.
“This past winter was brutal,” Thompson said. “We don’t have enough information to determine if [this winter] will be above or below normal.”