Residents living alongside Lake Erie should prepare for heavy rain, wind gusts reaching speeds of 60 mph, and the chance of hail the size of quarters.
In Cleveland, strong storms are looming over Lake Erie, leading the National Weather Service to issue a short-lived severe thunderstorm warning for parts of northern Ashtabula County and northeastern Lake County until 3:30 a.m. on Friday.
That weather alert expired about 15 minutes early for impacted areas in Lake County, but continued for lakeshore Ashtabula a short time longer.
According to the NWS, a severe thunderstorm was identified above Madison close to Geneva-on-the-Lake as it moved eastward, putting areas like Ashtabula directly in the storm’s trajectory. In addition to intense rainfall, the storm carried the risk of wind gusts up to 60 mph and hail the size of quarters. Damage to vehicles, trees, and power lines was also a possibility.
Northeast Ohio is currently under a Weather Impact Alert into at least Friday morning, with the 3News weather team calling for storms during the overnight hours.