Notable Weather Events of 2013

It was a busy weather year across northern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania.  Although there weren’t many large scale winter storms early in the year, there were frequent rounds of lake effect snow.  Spring was slow to arrive with a very cold March.  When warmer weather finally arrived in April, the severe weather season got off to a fast start.  Frequent rounds of severe weather occurred during the summer months with large hail and several tornadoes reported.  September and October were quiet with seasonable temperatures.  The year ended with a severe weather outbreak in mid November and several winter storms in December.  For the year, both temperatures and precipitation amounts were a little above normal.  Erie had its 6^th wettest year ever with 54.46 inches of precipitation.

To Start

The first noteworthy winter event of the year occurred on the 21^st through 24^th of January when almost two feet of snow fell on the snow belt areas east of Cleveland.  Nearly three feet of snow was reported over portions of northwestern Pennsylvania. Very gusty winds accompanied the snow and wind chills were as low as minus 15 degrees. 

A freezing rain event impacted the northeast corner of Ohio on March 18^th.  Significant travel problems occurred along with scattered power outages all across the Mahoning Valley.  A couple of days later a late season lake effect snow event occurred.  Between a foot and 18 inches of snow fell across the snowbelt areas east of Cleveland.

Severe Weather Season Begins

The first severe weather outbreak occurred on April 10^th.  A stationary front draped across the region caused showers and thunderstorms to develop.  Over two dozen reports of damage were reported with the worst of the damage in Portage County.  A 64 mph wind gust was recorded at the Portage County Airport where several buildings were damaged.  Most of the remaining damage occurred along the U.S. 30 Route corridor from Bucyrus to Mansfield to the Canton area.

A cold front moved across the upper Ohio Valley on May 10^th.  Severe thunderstorms developed along the front and caused damaged throughout Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania.    The first tornadoes of the season occurred on May 28^th as a warm front lifted across the region.  Two EF1 tornadoes touched down in Erie County, Pennsylvania.  The first touched down northeast of Cranesville and destroyed a mobile home injuring five people.  The same parent thunderstorm spawned a second tornado north of Edinboro.  This tornado had a damage path of nearly 18 miles and damaged many buildings in Union City.   Dozens of trees were downed by both tornadoes.  Flash flooding also occurred in the Union City area.  Nearly 4 inches of rainfall fell in a short time causing the west branch of French Creek to rapidly rise.  Flooding was extensive along the creek in Union Township and at least one road was washed out.  The local fire department conducted seven water rescues.

Active weather continued in June with severe weather on several days.  The worst of the weather occurred on the 12^th and 13^th.  A stationary front remained across the region causing showers and thunderstorms to develop during the evening.  Damaging winds and large hail were reported throughout the upper Ohio Valley.  Hail larger than golf balls fell in some areas and tennis ball sized hail caused a lot of damage in Marion County.  A second round of storms affected the area during the overnight hours.  A line of intense thunderstorms or Derecho developed over Indiana late in the evening.  This line raced east into Ohio crossing the Interstate 75 corridor around midnight on the 13^th.   This line spawned an EF0 tornado near Custar in Wood County.  A couple of homes were damaged and many trees knocked down along the damage path which was nearly a mile in length.  As the line moved east across the remainder of northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph caused widespread damage and scattered power outages.  It took a few days for power to be fully restored.

Mid-Summer Severe Weather Didn't Back Down

The busy weather continued in July with six tornadoes and several days of very hot weather.  The busiest stretch of severe weather occurred on the 8^th through 10^th when a very warm and humid airmass established itself over the region.  Flooding occurred on all three days with tornadoes on the 9^th and 10^th.  The towns of  Crestline, Mansfield, Tiffin, Barberton, Copley Township, Newton Falls Ohio and Union City Pennsylvania were some of the hardest hit communities by flooding. Most of the damage from flash flood occurred around July 10^th.  The runoff from the July storms subsequently led to river flooding, notably down in the Mohican Valley.  A short lived EF0 tornado touched down during the early morning hours of the 9^th near Kansas in Seneca County.  Over 50 severe thunderstorms occurred on the 10^th with widespread damage and three tornadoes reported.  The Bellevue area in North-Central Ohio was especially hard hit by a combination of a weak tornado and thunderstorm wind gusts in excess of 70 mph.  Every community in surrounding Sandusky, Seneca and Huron Counties sustained damage.  Thousands of trees were downed and as many as 250,000 electric customers lost power. It took five days for power to be fully restored.  In addition to the Bellevue tornado, weak tornadoes touched down in rural sections of Ashland and Seneca County.

The Thermometer Rises

The warmest stretch of weather during 2013 occurred from July 15^th through the 19^th when high temperatures most areas reached the lower 90s.  Some locations soared in the middle 90s with high humidity values making it feel even warmer.  That heat broke by late in the month. With highs only in the lower 70s, several waterspouts were reported on Lake Erie on the 29^th and 30^th.

Quiet Late Summer and Fall

Overall, August was a quiet month for severe weather.  However, an EF1 tornado did touch down in Wayne County on the 7^th.   This tornado touched down just south of Orrville and damaged a home and downed many trees along a damage path nearly a mile long.  Waterspouts were reported on Lake Erie on the 15^th.  September gave us a break.

Early Season Snow

An early season snow storm affected the eastern suburbs of Cleveland and portions of northwestern Pennsylvania late in October.  Lake effect snow showers developed on the 23^rd and then continued on and off into the 25^th.  By the time the snow ended up to eight inches of accumulation had occurred in eastern Cuyahoga County, Geauga County and Crawford County, Pennsylvania.  Thunder and lightning accompanied the snow.  The weight of the snow downed trees and power lines causing scattered power outages.  Power wasn’t fully restored till the 26^th.  On the afternoon of the 24^th, several airplanes on approach to land at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport were struck by lightning while flying through the snow bands.

Late Season Severe Weather

A cold front moved across the region late on October 31^st and early on November 31^st.  A strong line of thunderstorms developed in advance of this front.  Considerable storm damage was reported from the Marion areas north across Crawford, Richland and Ashland Counties to near Norwalk.  Hundreds of trees were downed and many homes were damaged.

Another outbreak of severe weather occurred on November 17^th as a strong cold front swept east across the Ohio Valley.  A line of severe thunderstorms crossed the Interstate 75 corridor early in the evening and then moved east into western Pennsylvania by 10 pm.  Dozens of reports of wind damage were reported.  There were also reports of at least two tornadoes.  The stronger of the two was rated an EF2 and had a damage path of nearly 12 miles.  The tornado touched down in northern Wood County near Perrysburg and then moved northeast into Lucas County before finally lifting near Oregon.  Many homes were sustained damage including a few in Oregon that were damaged enough to be inhabitable.  The second tornado touched down near Jerry City causing some damage to homes and trees.

Winter is Back!

     The past two winters had been gentle on the region with temperatures that ran above normal with below normal snowfall.  The first snowflakes of this season fell in late October with accumulating snow starting up in November.  This winter was starting out significantly different than past years.  The first measurable snowfall (greater than or equal to 0.1") of the season (at Cleveland) occurred on November 8th.  We haven't had that early of a start to a snowfall season since the winter of 2008-2009.

A strong area of low pressure developed over the Gulf Coast on November 26^th and then rapidly moved up the East Coast on the 27^th.  Wintry precipitation fell to the north of the low hampering Thanksgiving travel for millions of people.  Six or more inches of snow fell east of a line from the Canton across the Mahoning Valley to near Erie Pennsylvania.  Less than an inch of snow fell to the west of the Interstate 71 corridor.

Another winter storm impacted the area during the middle of December.  This time, the entire area saw several inches of accumulation.  An area of low pressure moved up the Ohio Valley on 14^th and eventually shifted to the East Coast on the 15^th.   Four to six inches of snow was reported across most of the area with slightly higher amounts in Northwest Ohio.  Toledo for example, had 7.4 inches on the 14^th.  Higher amounts were also reported to the east of Cleveland and across Northwest Pennsylvania.  Those locations saw some lake effect snow develop as the low passed to the south.  This greatly added to the snow totals.  Erie reported a two day total on the 14^th and 15^th of 16.3 inches with amounts greater than two feet on the higher terrain of the snow belt.

The severe weather season wasn’t quite over.  Temperatures across the Upper Ohio Valley climbed in the middle 50s to lower 60s on 21^st and 22^nd as an area of low pressure tracked northeast across the Ohio Valley.  Showers and thunderstorms developed along a front associated with this low.  Several of the thunderstorms became severe during the late evening hours of the 21^st and early morning hours of the 22^nd.  There were dozens of reports of wind damage from the storms.  The community of Shelby in Richland County was especially hard hit with dozens of downed trees and widespread power outages reported.  The combination of warm temperatures and locally heavy rainfall also caused widespread flooding.  Streams and rivers in the area remained in flood for several days.  The Blanchard River in Findlay, the Cuyahoga River at Independence, and the Scioto River at La Rue all reached major flood stage during this event. The small community of La Rue Ohio experienced its worst flood in 50 years (03/05/63 15.95 feet) when the Scioto River crested at a stage of 14.18 feet on December 22nd. This major flood surpassed the more recent floods February 28, 2011 by only 0.09 feet. The Blachard River at the City of Findlay experienced its 8^th highest crest at 15.58 feet on the 22^nd of December. The level, though significant, did not reach the level needed for massive evacuations. Significant parts of Findlay were underwater and numerous state highways were closed. The Eagle Creek, a tributary to joins with the Blanchard River in Findlay, also reached major flood stage at 11.4 feet. In all, 45 homes experienced flood damage in Findlay.

A Summary of the Records Set in 2013

2012-2013 Seasonal Snowfall

A text description of the 2012-2013 Season Snowfall can be found here.  Seasonal snowfall totals that contributed to this map can be found here.

Monthly Records...

     A number of monthly temperature and precipitation records occurred across our climate sites this year.

     All of these monthly statistics for our climate stations can be found year round by going to the following link and selecting your station.  Data each month are updated within a week if data for the previous month made the "top ten."

     NWS Cleveland Unique Local Climate Data

Annual/Yearly Records...

     Records that encompass yearly totals such as the wettest/driest/snowiest years on record are again located on our Unique Local Climate Data page.

Other Memorable Weather Events...

     View our growing local weather events page highlighted below.

    Local Weather Events & Local Interest Features Page

     The publication, StormData, can be found with the National Climate Data Center.

Worldwide Climate Anomalies and Events...

     Significant Global Climate Extremes and Anomalies 2013

     NCDC 2013 Preliminary Annual Global Climate Report

     NCDC 2013 Preliminary United States Significant Weather and Climate Events

     NCDC 2013 Preliminary State of the Climate - U.S. Summary

          Preliminary data is updated in mid-January to reflect end of the year weather.  The full analysis will be out in spring.

Additional Notes...

     All data are considered preliminary.  The National Climate Data Center finalizes and stores the official record of all of our weather data.

     Period of record are as follows:

     Records data back to 1873 for Erie

                                     1897 for Youngstown

                                     1887 for Canton-Akron

                                     1871 for Cleveland

                                     1873 for Toledo

                                     1916 for Mansfield