Power Outage in Kelleys Island, OH

Blizzard. An Arctic cold front swept through the area shortly before midnight December 23rd. Low pressure along this front tracked over Lake Erie early in the morning on December 23rd and rapidly intensified through the day while slowly lifting northeast across Ontario. With the frontal passage rain changed to snow with temperatures dropping from the upper 30s and lower 40s to sub-zero in about 8 hours. A period of light to moderate snow occurred behind the front into the morning hours of December 23rd before becoming much lighter by midday. The period of snow and rapidly falling temperatures led to a flash freeze and icy conditions on area roadways. While the falling snow became lighter through the daytime hours of December 23rd, winds began increasing during the pre-dawn hours and gusted over 50 MPH through the day. A weather station in Sandusky measured a peak wind gust of 51 MPH at 11:28 AM December 23rd. Nearby, Sandusky County Regional Airport clocked a peak gust of 58 MPH at 1:55 PM, with a 62 MPH gust measured at 10:35 AM at Port Clinton Regional Airport. Scattered tree damage and over 7,000 power outages resulted. Wind gusts very gradually subsided into December 24th, though gusts didn���t drop below 30 MPH until that evening. This led to a prolonged period of widespread blowing and drifting snow beginning early in the morning December 23rd and continuing through the afternoon and evening, with some patchy blowing and drifting snow continuing all the way through Christmas Eve. The Sandusky County Regional Airport reported visibility consistently at or below one-quarter of a mile in falling and/or blowing snow beginning around 4 AM December 23rd and continuing through 5 PM before gradually improving. At Port Clinton Airport, these conditions were observed from 7:30 AM through 3:30 PM. Wind gusts were well over 35 MPH for that entire period, meaning blizzard conditions were observed. The greatest impact from this storm was to travel due to the flash freeze and extensive blowing and drifting snow, to go along with low visibility. Numerous minor accidents, slide-offs and disabled vehicles were reported throughout the area on December 23rd and 24th. The most significant incident occurred shortly before 12:30 PM December 23rd at Mile Marker 106 of the Ohio Turnpike, in Groton Township along the Sandusky County border. A deadly pile-up involving 48 vehicles occurred, resulting in 4 fatalities (a 59 year-old male, 30 year-old male, 37 year-old female and 19 year-old female). A total of 73 injuries occurred. At the time of the accident, blowing snow was resulting in near-zero visibility with winds gusting over 50 MPH and wind chills between -30 and -35 degrees. Due to the severity of the accident and harsh conditions, the Turnpike did not fully reopen in both directions until 5 PM December 24th. Elsewhere, Ohio Route 2 was closed in both directions near the city of Huron shortly before 1 PM December 23rd due to multiple accidents. The Erie County Sheriff called a Level 3 snow emergency the morning of December 23rd, which was not lifted until early December 24th. This closed all roads in the county to non-emergency travel. Wind chills plunged below 0 around 4 AM December 23rd and did not warm back above 0 until the early morning hours of December 26th. A wind chill of -31 degrees was reported at 12:00 PM December 23rd on a weather station in Sandusky. A warming center was opened in Sandusky in response to these conditions. A number of burst pipes were reported across northern Ohio due to this cold, with temperatures remaining in the single digits until Christmas morning. A trained spotter measured 3.0��� of snow in Huron with this storm. CoCoRaHS observers reported 2.5��� of snow in Berlin Heights and 1.5��� in Vermilion Township.

December 23, 2022

Winter Storm. Rain changed over to snow during the early afternoon hours of November 30 in North Central Ohio, as low pressure moved just east of the area. During the early morning hours of December 1, heavy, wet snow overspread the region with visibility dropping to one-quarter of a mile or less and snowfall rates up to one inch per hour. Travel was severely disrupted by this storm as heavy snow quickly accumulated on area roadways and any pre-treatment efforts were hampered by rain earlier on November 30. Due to the heavy, wet nature of the snow and only modest wind speeds of 10 to 15 mph, blowing and drifting snow was not a big issue during this event. However, snow easily collected on area trees, especially area evergreen trees, and the weight of the snow allowed for trees to fall onto area roads, power lines, and even some buildings. Schools and several businesses closed on December 1 and 2 due to the weather conditions. In Erie County, snowfall totals ranged from 6 to 11 inches of snow for the event. A peak total of 11.4 inches of snow was observed in Florence Township. Other selected snowfall totals include: 8.2 inches in Berlin Heights, 8 inches in Milan, 7 inches in Huron, 6.3 inches in Castalia, and 6.2 inches in Sandusky.

December 01, 2020

Thunderstorm Wind. A social media report showed several power poles downed on US Route 6 near Ohio State Route 269, north of Castalia.

June 10, 2020

Thunderstorm Wind. Erie County Emergency Management, Sheriff Dispatch, members of the media, and trained spotters reported several areas of wind damage in the Sandusky area. Wind damage generally spanned south to north across the city. Trees, power lines, and power poles were downed across the area. A fire station on US Route 250 lost portions of its roof. The most notable damage was to the Sandusky State Theater in Downtown Sandusky. Winds in excess of 70 mph allowed for a wall of the theater to collapse and the roof to sustain major damage.

June 10, 2020

High Wind. High wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph downed trees, large limbs and power lines throughout the county. Scattered power outages were also reported. The roof of an elementary school was heavily damaged in Milan. A peak wind gust of 71 mph was recorded on an automated wind sensor from a trained spotter in Sandusky.

December 30, 2019

Lakeside Marblehead, OH (6:39 AM) Grid Power Outage Event >> The Ting Network detected an Electric Utility Grid Pow… https://t.co/MPRWAXEfwH

@grid_events - March 04, 2023 12:00