ASHTABULA, Ohio — Those driving through the snow belt for the Thanksgiving holiday are once again preparing to deal with the lake effect snow.
Interstate 90 through Lake and Ashtabula Counties saw a steady flow of drivers throughout the day Wednesday, just a few of the nearly 82 million people AAA expects to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday weekend.
Once the morning rains passed, drivers like Kristin Ashba of Jefferson said roads were clear. "So far so good just a little windy," she said of the major obstacle drivers faced Wednesday.
A snow belt veteran, she planned an early afternoon quick trip to Mentor and back ahead of the start of the predicted lake effect snow.
"We're leaving now so that when we get back, it's already just starting and we'll get home safely."
While her drive is short, Nathan Jackson's is not.
"It's about 13, 14 hours or so," he said of his journey from Massachusetts to Kentucky. A trip that took him through both Lake Erie and Ontario's snow belts, but only for this leg.
"I know we're a little concerned, so we're going to go through Southern Pennsylvania on the way up, trying to avoid all of that nasty winter weather," he said.
Not an option for Dominic, he's headed with his family to just outside Rochester, New York.
"I'm from upstate New York, and we now live in Ohio, so we took the Erie route quite a bit," he said.
Those who traveled this way last Thanksgiving remember all too well what Mother Nature brought when a Black Friday storm dumped feet of snow in parts of Lake and Ashtabula Counties and shut down portions of I-90 in Pennsylvania.
Something Will Flaws, a new Erie, PA resident who is driving to Columbus for the holiday, hopes he isn't going back to.
"I heard last year parts of Erie got almost like four feet, and I just, I don't know what to do with that? But like again we'll figure it out," said Flaws.
Holiday or not, ODOT said they will be ready for the storm with crews ready to roll.
"It's going to be really the unsung heroes of this Thanksgiving season as our plow drivers are going to be spending time away from their families plowing, keeping the roads safe," said ODOT Spokesperson Brent Kovacs.
With lake effect, it can be sunny in one spot and this (snow) 20 miles away, where squalls persist, something ODOT is constantly monitoring.
"If we know that it's going to start hitting really, really hard in Lake and Geauga counties but not so much on the west side of Cuyahoga, we can shift crews to those areas to help keep the roadways as safe and passable as possible," said ODOT Spokesperson Amanda McFarland.
AAA projects at least 73 million people will travel by car, which is nearly 90% of Thanksgiving travelers and an additional 1.3 million people on the road compared to last Thanksgiving. That number could end up being higher if some air travelers decide to drive instead of fly following recent flight cancellations.
