MANSFIELD — The last time I can recall anything near this cold at Christmas in Richland County was 2004, a bitter cold accompanied by almost two feet of snow on Dec. 23.
Just like 2022, if you wanted a white Christmas 18 years ago, you got it,
Now join me in a quick prayer that we don’t match what came after that white Christmas when we rang in the New Year and turned the page into January 2005.
Christmas Day will be partly sunny, with a high near 12. Wind chill values as low as -16. Southwest wind 14 to 16 mph.
Christmas Night will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 3. Wind chill values as low as -9. Southwest wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
On Monday, there is a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 19. South wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
— Information from the National Weather Service office in Cleveland
For the youngsters in the audience, Jan. 5 and 6, 2005, gave us the worst ice storm most anyone could remember.
Put simply, it was not a great few weeks of weather in north central Ohio.
Let’s review.
White Christmas 2004
A strong low pressure system moved from the gulf coast across eastern Ohio a couple of days before Christmas.
Heavy snow fell in a broad swath from western Kentucky through northern Ohio. A band of severe icing fell just to the east of the heavy snow, affecting much of central and south Central Ohio.
We were spared most of the ice — but we got the snow. Lots of it. According to scrapbooks maintained by my wife, Richland County got a record-setting 23 inches of snow seemingly in a 24-hour period.
Roads and businesses were closed. Power outages were widespread. Thankfully, schools were closed for the holidays already.
Yes, local residents complained about streets not being plowed quickly enough. Some things never change.
Admittedly, my brain is a little fuzzy about all the details of that snow. Time and age create less-than-accurate memories. We always tend to think things were far worse “back in my day.”
But this one was bad.
I dug around the internet Saturday morning and found scientific proof in a report titled “The Pre-Christmas 2004 Snowstorm Disaster in the Ohio River Valley.”
You can read the whole thing for yourself here:
According to the report’s authors, five factors made this 2004 pre-Christmas snow unusual:
• Its huge size.
• Its occurrence in an area seldom experiencing massive snowstorms.
• Excessive losses/costs total.
• Unusual atmospheric conditions that created the storm.
• Timing just before the holiday season with a record-setting volume of travelers/shoppers.
The report is full of details. I just remember clearing off a ton of snow around my house in Washington Township and cursing the descending angle of my driveway that loves to collect huge drifts of snow next to a retaining wall.
Full disclosure: I repeated some of those same words Saturday morning. But at least in 2004, I had sons at home to help — and a snowblower that worked.
Somehow, we all survived. Christmas morning came. Presents were unwrapped. Children played. A relatively great time was had by all.
Little did we know what was coming just two weeks later.
The Ice Storm of 2005
As the managing editor at the News Journal, I had a sense weather was going to be bad. But no one had any real idea how wicked this one was going to be.
Rain turned into ice … and ice … and more ice.
I was working at the newspaper the night of Jan. 5. My wife called to tell me the power had gone out at our house. She told me she was hearing awful sounds outside as branches and trees snapped in our Walnut Hills neighborhood. She said the crashes were coming every few minutes.
I left the office around 10:30 p.m., opting to take a quick tour around the southern end of town to assess the situation.
It was shocking. Most of the south side had no lights on. There were downed trees and branches everywhere. I swerved from lane to lane to continue my drive. An entire tree had fallen across the southbound ramp to Ohio 13 from Cook Road, effectively closing it.
My assessment tour turned into a “How the hell do I get home?” situation.
Once I did get home, I was stunned. The towering silver maple tree in my front yard looked destroyed. The leafy giant looked like lightning had struck at the top, splitting it downward. A tree that had taken decades to grow was downed in a few hours by frozen water.
Full disclosure again: Thanks to the great work of the Mid Ohio Tree Service, in the days that followed, that tree survived. It’s now bigger than ever.
Dawn the next morning revealed the extent of the widespread devastation. We had no power for days at my house, which was not unusual around the area. My wife and sons went to her parents house in Fostoria. I slept on my office couch at the News Journal until power was ultimately restored.
Again, not trusting my memory, I looked up details on this storm and found this on the National Weather Service website:
“Significant ice accumulations occurred over most of the area downing thousands of trees, causing widespread power outages and making travel nearly impossible.
“Low pressure over Missouri moved rapidly northeast on January 5th, reaching eastern Ohio early on the 6th. It was responsible for producing a prolonged period of freezing rain.
“The hardest hit locations were west of Interstate 71 along the U.S. Route 30 corridor. Ice accumulations of greater than three quarters of an inch were reported from Hancock County eastward across Wyandot, Crawford, Richland and Ashland counties.
“Northern sections of Wyandot and Marion counties along with the southern halves of Seneca and Huron County were also hard hit. Up to 80 percent of electric customers in these nine counties lost service during the storm, some for as much as 10 days.
“In cities like Mansfield, Bucyrus and Findlay, nearly every property in some neighborhoods sustained tree damage. To the north and south of these areas ice accumulations ranged from one quarter to three quarters of an inch.
“Clean up and repair costs for this storm were among the highest ever recorded for a natural disaster in Ohio. Damage in many counties topped $1 million with a couple counties exceeding $10 million in losses.
“In Richland County alone, clean up cost accrued by local governments totaled nearly $6 million. Estimates indicate that as many as one million people lost power during this storm. Several power companies reported the largest number of outages in their histories. Hundreds if not thousands of homes and businesses were damaged by fallen trees, limbs and utility poles.”
I also glanced back at some of the coverage we provided with the News Journal after the storm.
— According to the Red Cross, 85 percent of Ohio Edison customers in Richland and Ashland counties lost power. At least nine shelters were opened in those two counties.
— Tree service companies asked residents for patients. In my case, Mid Ohio came out quickly and moved the shattered limbs from my driveway. They returned several days later to clean up the mess and set the stage for saving the tree.
— Mansfield Public Works Director F.L. “Bud” Fisher said all city crews were working to cut trees and branches to clear streets. “That’s our first priority,” Fisher said. “We need to get traffic moving again.”
— Bellville residents were asked to conserve water after the power outage impacted the village’s water tank. “The last time our power went out, our people from the water and sewer department spent three days nursing that generator,” said Mayor Carol Studenmund said. “This time it gave up the ghost.”
— The Village of Lexington was dark and cold. Village administrator Chuck Pscholka said he didn’t know when power would be restored. “Twenty-four hours for sure. Probably more. My yard looks like a war zone,” he said.
Bottom line: Enjoy your white Christmas. But pray history doesn’t repeat itself.
(Carl Hunnell has been the Richland Source city editor since 2019. He worked at the Mansfield News Journal as a reporter and city editor from 1990-1993 and as the newspaper’s managing editor from 1997 to 2009. He is not a fan of winter weather.)
