Cleveland Mid 2015

[WRnative]

Areas closer to Lake Erie (such as Lake County) get more lake effect snow. Lake effect snow is highly localized and depends upon where snow bands tend to set up based on geography.

Southern Buffalo gets pounded when a slow-moving front has prevailing winds crossing the length of Lake Erie.

Elevations increase rapidly south of Lake Erie which contributes to heavier snowfalls in places like Chardon, which also are subject to lake effect snow. General snowfalls resulting from storms coming from the southwest carrying moisture from the Gulf of Mexico likely impact southern elevated regions like Shaker Heights more than lake effect snow.

Rather than seven feet experienced by Buffalo, Lake County east of Cleveland and adjacent to Lake Erie received maybe 14 inches of snow on Sept. 12-13, but just a couple inches all of this past week. Some snow bands east of Cleveland did deliver over five inches yesterday. Even snowfalls of over a foot are easily handled by residents/most communities with streets cleared within hours of the end of a storm and generally passable with caution even during the storm. Cleveland, unlike Washington or even Columbus, does NOT shut down during significant snow events. Many communities, likely Shaker Heights, use sidewalk plows. Cleveland proper may have slightly worse snow removal capabilities than many suburbs, but major arteries receive priority as opposed to side streets.

Schools have "snow" days typically when conditions are hazardous for buses or weather is very frigid with extremely low wind chills.

The Shakerite : District Seeks Alternatives to Future Snow Days

Once Lake Erie freezes, typically in January, the lake effect snow engine largely is turned off, although open patches of Lake Erie and Lake Huron can produce smaller amounts of lake effect snow.

Shaker Heights offers great sledding options!

Shaker Heights/Beachwood get snow, but typically not as much as further east. They are most vulnerable when winds are coming more directly out of the north across Lake Erie, less common than more westerly winds. However, people who live in houses in Shaker Heights often need snow blowers or snow plowing services for the occasional heavy snow storm (a couple times a year?).

Most Greater Clevelanders use all-weather tires and rarely snow tires. Greater Cleveland has a very robust ability to clean, treat, and pre-treat roads and traffic arteries for winter weather. Many freeways even have road sensors to report road conditions to authorities. I-271 due to its elevation and location in the east is more subject to bad weather, a consideration for commutes to University Circle from Solon.

[WRnative]

Note that University Circle through the Cleveland Institute of Art (not part of the Cleveland Museum of Art), the CMA, the Cleveland Institute of Music (the faculty includes members of the renown Cleveland Orchestra), and the Cleveland Music Settlement offers extremely high levels of music and art education.

[Regajohn]

The east side of Cleveland also has great private school options. Many people don't realize that a large percentage of students get significant scholarships, so they're not paying the $40k to $50k per year.

University School, Gilmour Academy, and Hawken.

[alovely1]

Thanks again everyone for your wealth of knowledge! Our family is looking forward to our relocation to Cleveland.