Winter Storm Vulcan: Snow, Wind Reports

March 12,2014

 

 

 

 

Next update: Around 10 p.m. ET
Winter Storm Vulcan is laying down a swath of heavy snow from the Midwest into the Great Lakes and interior Northeast, less than two weeks before the arrival of spring.
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Below is a sampling of the notable snow and high wind reports from this mid-March winter storm, by region:

Midwest

• Peak total: 9.5" at New Haven, Ind.
• Ft. Wayne, Ind.: 6.7" 
• Detroit (Metro Airport): 6.5"
• Duluth (Heights), Minn.: 6.4" (mainly from lake-effect snow)
• Chicago (Midway): 6" (3.6" at O'Hare)

Vulcan propelled Chicago to its third snowiest season on record, with snow totals ranging from just a dusting in the northwest suburbs to just over six inches in the south suburbs.
Interestingly, despite widespread ice cover, a small area of open water and sufficiently cold air produced a band of lake-effect snow into the Duluth, Minn. metro area, with amounts over six inches in some areas.
Snow fell at the rate of two inches per hour Wednesday morning at both Chicago Midway and in Ft. Wayne, Ind. Lightning accompanied these intense snowfall rates in parts of northern Indiana, northwest Ohio, Lower Michigan and northeast Illinois.

• Van Wert Co., Ohio: Wind gusts to 41 mph, near whiteout conditions
• Whitley Co., Ind.: Near blizzard conditions, power outages reported.

Northeast

• Peak snow total: 10" at Irondequoit, N.Y.
• Buffalo, N.Y.: 7.2" (at NWS office) the ground; peak wind gust 47 mph; visibilities reduced to one-sixteenth mile at Buffalo-Niagara Int'l Airport.
• Rochester, N.Y.: 5"; peak wind gust to 49 mph
• Barcelona, N.Y.: Gust to 54 mph
• Knox, N.Y.: Minor ice accumulations Wednesday afternoon (0.1")

Buffalo City Hall, as well as Erie County offices were shut down, due to the storm. Numerous reports of lightning came in from the Buffalo metro area early Wednesday afternoon.

MORE: Winter Storm Vulcan in Pictures

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A snow covered porch railing shows the effects of an overnight snowstorm Wednesday, March 12, 2014, in Blue Island, Ill. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)