Fall begins with storm rocking Lake Erie coast

Jon Stinchcomb
Port Clinton News Herald
Strong northerly winds kicked up waves on Lake Erie Wednesday, pushing water and rocks onto Ohio 163 in Marblehead.

MARBLEHEAD — The autumn season kicked off with quite a wet start as a rainstorm slammed the western Lake Erie coast once again Wednesday, the first official day of fall.

While much of Northwest Ohio , including Ottawa County, was under a flood watch beginning Tuesday night, continuing through all of Wednesday, it appears the area avoided any major flooding damage similar to what followed several storms that rocked the coast earlier this year.

The National Weather Service, which collects regional rainfall totals at the Toledo Executive Airport, reported 2.78 inches of rain fell over the course of 24 hours Wednesday. According to Weather Underground, the historical average for the area on Sept. 22 is 3.10 inches.

A freighter is anchored off Marblehead, riding out the storm on Wednesday afternoon.

Much of the rain fell 6:30 p.m.-midnight and continued into Thursday, as another 0.3 inch fell through 1 a.m., when the storm finally began to let up.

The wind, which reached up to 25 mph, did contribute to high water and coastal erosion washing over the Marblehead peninsula, where Ohio 163 runs along Lake Erie.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland is forecasting sunny and breezy conditions Friday, however, showers are likely to return Saturday with a 60% chance of rain as of Thursday afternoon. They also issued a hazardous weather outlook for Northwest Ohio’s coast as there is a moderate risk of rip currents in Lake Erie.

Strong northerly winds kicked up waves on Lake Erie Wednesday, pushing water over the Lakeside pier.