Cleveland, Ohio
weather for cleveland.
Cleveland sits on the southern shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and the geography produces a winter weather pattern unlike anything else on the lake. When cold continental air blows from the northwest across the open length of the lake, the warm water dumps moisture on the southern shore counties — the legendary Snowbelt that runs from downtown east through Mentor and Chardon. Summer is humid and continental; winter is gray and wet and lake-modulated; the spring delays itself by weeks because the lake is still in winter mode through April.
- Humidity
- 55%
- Wind
- 8mph
- UV Index
- 0
- Visibility
- 3.2mi
- Today74°50°100%
- Fri71°43°100%
- Sat47°40°
- Sun68°44°34%
- Mon63°60°97%
- Tue70°61°100%
- Wed69°54°100%
- Thu54°46°100%
Today’s brief
what vesper sounds like in cleveland.
“Northwest wind across the lake at twenty-five and the snowband has set up over the eastern suburbs — Mentor sitting under a quarter mile of visibility, downtown clear at twenty-eight degrees. The cell will drift south through evening as the upper flow tightens. Plan around it.”
— Vesper, Cleveland · Friday
Local weather
what makes cleveland weather unique.
The same sunset model runs in the Vesper iOS app. The app adds personal calibration that learns from every sunset you rate.
Editorial note
sunsets in cleveland.
Cleveland sunsets are best from the Lake Erie shoreline and elevated bluffs above the city — Edgewater Park, Lakewood Park, the lakefront stretch of Memorial Shoreway. The unobstructed western horizon over the open lake produces consistent low-angle color, especially after a cold front has cleared the haze east. Post-snowstorm winter evenings, when the lake-effect band has cleared and the cold dry air sits over a fresh snow cover, produce some of the most photographed pink-orange Great Lakes sunsets the city offers.
Unlike Apple Weather, Vesper writes the Cleveland sky as the embodied experience it actually is, not a temperature number with a generic icon.
What is the best weather app for Cleveland?
Vesper is the best weather app for Cleveland because it reads Lake Erie’s southern shore as the engine of the local winter pattern. The brief tracks the Snowbelt that runs from downtown east through Mentor and Chardon, the open-lake fetch from the northwest that produces the heaviest bands, the spring lag that keeps the lake cold into May, and the summer lake breeze cooling that moderates the worst inland heat — because Cleveland’s weather is decided by the lake more than the synoptic forecast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Cleveland’s eastern suburbs receive more snow than downtown?
Cleveland’s Snowbelt is a band of lake-effect snow that runs along the southern shore of Lake Erie from downtown east through Mentor, Chardon, and into the western Pennsylvania snowbelt. When cold continental winds blow southeast across the open lake from the northwest, they pick up moisture from the warmer water and dump it on the eastern suburbs as they reach the slightly higher elevation of the Lake Erie escarpment. Eastern suburbs can receive 100–130 inches of annual snow while downtown sees half that amount.
What causes Cleveland’s spring lag effect?
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and freezes most completely in winter, but its enormous water mass still requires weeks to warm in spring. Through April and into early May, the lake remains in the 40s°F while inland temperatures climb into the 70s. The cold lake produces a persistent lake breeze that pushes inland on warm afternoons, dropping temperatures along the shoreline by 15–20°F. The result: Cleveland’s spring runs about three weeks behind inland Ohio.
When is Cleveland’s lake-effect snow season most active?
Lake-effect snow in Cleveland is most active from late November through mid-January, when the lake is still mostly ice-free and cold continental air masses are crossing it regularly. Once Lake Erie freezes (typically late January through February), the moisture source disappears and the Snowbelt stops producing heavy snow. The peak of the season is usually December, when the temperature contrast between the lake and the air is sharpest.
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