The National Weather Service office that keeps the Mahoning Valley's official weather records is located in Trumbull County because when weather stations were initially being set up, it was determined that pilots needed the up-to-date weather information the most.
Lake-effect snow tapers off as it moves farther south of its moisture source, Lake Erie, so Trumbull County will tend to pile up more snow than Mahoning and Columbiana counties until the great lake freezes.
We will compare snow totals between the NWS and the WKBN studio in Mahoning County throughout the 2011-2012 winter season.
This November, the NWS led with 2.4" of snow and just .20" at WKBN. November's average snowfall is 4.7".
December, again, had more snow at the airport with 7.7" and at WKBN just 1.3". December's average is 14.9".
The airport led for January at 23.1" with 16.4" at WKBN.
February's average snowfall is 11" and the airport bested that with 16". WKBN had 5.9" of snow.
Temperature's in the 80's toward the end of March set the tone for the month. The snowfall between March 1 and 9 amounted to 3.0" for the airport and 0.9" at WKBN.
