While the honors for the snowiest month in Ohio go to January, February isn't far behind. 

On average, our five major Ohio cities all pick up over 6 inches of snow during the month of February, with Cleveland leading the pack at over 15 inches.

Those numbers aren't always evenly divided up throughout the month, either. Daily record snow amounts have topped 10 inches during the month in Toledo, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

In some years, lake-effect snow amounts are much lower in February as more of Lake Erie freezes over. At this point in 2022, about 80% of the lake is now ice-covered, which cuts off most of the supply of moisture that would otherwise come down in heavy bands of snow for parts of northeast Ohio. 

However, we see the downward trend in all five major cities, so the trend isn't limited to the snowbelt. We can also factor in less precipitation overall (although the difference isn't stark) and slightly warmer temperatures, which would cause more of that precipitation to fall as rain as opposed to snow. 

With this week's winter storm, parts of northern Ohio are looking at not only setting daily records for snow amounts, but topping the averages for the entire month of February.