Northeast Ohio winter storm: Schools closed, flights canceled

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Northeast Ohio will emerge from a winter storm warning at 10 a.m. today, but the effects of the storm remain, with hundreds of schools canceling classes, government buildings closed, and disruption in air travel.

The Ohio Department of Transportation’s ohgo.com website shows that major interstates are in decent shape but icy conditions remain and travel remains slow. The speed limit on Interstate 90 east of Ohio 44 in Lake County has been reduced to 40 mph.

People intending to fly out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport should check their flight status. Several flights this morning have been canceled because of the storm. Nationally, more than 11,400 flights were canceled Sunday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. More than 4,000 have been canceled today as of 4:15 a.m.

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Light snow was falling early this morning but it’s expected to end this afternoon, with only about an inch of accumulation. Cleveland set a record for the date Sunday with 6.4 inches recorded at Hopkins, breaking the mark of 5.7 inches set in 1979.

Munson Township in Geauga County had more than 9 inches of snow, while Middleburg Heights had 8.5 inches.

While the snow is ending, the region still must contend with extremely cold temperatures. Highs today will stay in the mid-teens and temperatures will drop below zero overnight, with wind chills reaching minus-25 degrees. An extreme cold warning from the National Weather Service will take effect at 7 p.m.

The storm caused problems for much of the nation. Heavy snow fell in the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,” weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said. “It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000-mile spread.”

President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday. In New York, communities near the Canadian border saw record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown registering minus-34 degrees and Copenhagen minus-49.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)