Just how much snow will fall remains a moving target.
The latest prediction from the National Weather Service says “heavy snow” is expected to fall across Northeast Ohio from Monday night into Wednesday evening.
The Ohio Department of Transportation dispatched trucks throughout the region Monday morning to apply a liquid pretreatment on major interstates to slow down the buildup of snow and ice.
The mere threat of major widespread snow across Northeast Ohio has prompted some airlines including Southwest to warn its passengers of delays and cancellations of flights Tuesday and Wednesday at Akron-Canton Airport and Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland.
Some United flights at Akron-Canton were cancelled Monday heading to and from Chicago where the storm hit first.
The culprit is a storm system that will track through southern Ohio Monday with “widespread” snow moving in from the west.
“Northeast winds across Lake Erie will enhance snowfall totals downwind of the Lake where the highest accumulations are expected,” the weather service says.
Temperatures are expected to fall into the 20s as the snow intensifies Monday night into Tuesday.
“Northerly winds will increase on Tuesday with gusts as high as 35 mph near Lake Erie, contributing to blowing and drifting of the newly fallen snow,” the weather service predicts.
The initial round of general snow is expected to drop anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of snow by noon Tuesday.
Additional snow could fall from lake effect bands Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday, but weather officials say it is still too early to determine where those will set up.
By the time the snow stops Wednesday night, the weather service says a worst case scenario could see as much as 10 inches of snow on the ground in some spots particularly in northern Medina, Summit and Portage counties.
Either way, the weather service warns there could be limited visibility in the heavier bands of snow and poor driving conditions on snow-covered roads.
Snow parking bans were announced in some communities — including Mogadore — well before the first snowflake even fell.
Scott Sabol, a weather forecaster at Fox 8 in Cleveland, points out this first real bout of snow for folks outside of the traditional snowbelt areas comes amid what has been the fourth least snowiest winter in the Cleveland area in some 30 years.
“Many will act like this snow is poison falling from the sky (sarcasim),” he tweeted out to his followers on Twitter.
The snow in Akron is precursor for what is shaping up to be what could be a storm for the ages along the East Coast in major cities like New York.
The storm is expected to develop into a so-called nor’easter dropping snow measured in the feet and blizzard conditions.
“In some locations in Pennsylvania, New York state and New England, snowfall from this storm could be the biggest March snowstorm since that of the 1993 March blizzard,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams said in a statement.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.