Numbers don’t tend to lie, particularly when they are generated by careful observation.
By many measures, this past weekend’s winter storm, given the name “Winter Storm Harper” by the powers that be, was an atypical one. That conclusion was borne out by numbers shared by the National Weather Service in Cleveland in terms of the month to date snowfall amounts and temperatures as of 5 PM on Monday evening.
Consider the following.
In just three weeks, from January 1 to the present, Richland County has had 20.1 inches of total measured snowfall. In an average year, that amount would be 9.1 inches, an 11 inch difference. At this time last year, that amount stood at 7.6 inches.The high temperature of 7 degrees on Monday was 26 degrees below the “normal” temperature, and the low of 9 below zero was some 27 degrees below the average for January 21. Last year, the high temperature was 49 degrees.
At the height of the storm, the Ohio Department of Transportation had over 1,300 separate crews out doing snow plowing and road treatment.
After a pair of more seasonal but we weather on Tuesday and Friday, the end of the week will see a return to frigid temperatures. According to forecasts, that cold spell will be with us well into February.
