EVENING UPDATE

Well the little Panhandle Hook snow machine is here and is causing problems in our area. Traffic has been slowed down and evening classes and events have been canceled. Cleveland Hopkins has had 144 cancellations by 5pm and expects more tonight as the snow continues. North Abbe Road this afternoon was backed up from Rt. 57 to LCCC and most other roadways are all slow going. Officials continue to ask people to stay home and off the roads tonight unless absolutely necessary.

Elyria Police have closed down traffic to the Gulf Road hills tonight after one of their own cruisers got stuck at the bottom of one of the hills. The Police say that once the Street Department is able to make travel safe on the hills they will re-open the hills to traffic.

UPDATE: 10:00pm
NEWSCHANNEL 5 is reporting that the heavy snowfall is expected to get worse before it gets any better. Overnight accumulations could bring our total up to another foot of snow with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour possible. Cleveland Hopkins has reported totals of 5 inches of snow with some areas reporting 10 inches and again, the worst is yet to come. Wind Chills are expected to dip below zero overnight and in areas where there are Blizzard Warnings they could go as low as 15 below.

Chief Meteorologist Mark Johnson said that we can expect another 2 to 4 inches of accumulations during the morning hours, but conditions should “significantly improve” as the day turns into night and the snow diminishes.

Our friends to the west in Huron, Erie and Sandusky counties have a blizzard warning in effect until 7am.

NO SCHOOL Wednesday in Lorain or Elyria. For NEWSCHANNEL 5’s COMPLETE list of closings: CLICK HERE

The Elyria Police Department still have the hills on Gulf Road Closed. Conditions have not gotten any better and travel is still too dangerous on the hills.

Check back in the morning for overnight pictures and stories.