CLEVELAND, Ohio – A potent storm system will bring several hazards to Northeast Ohio Wednesday, including rapidly falling temperatures, strong winds with gusts up to 50 mph and significant lake effect snow for counties along Lake Erie through Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold front moving through the region Wednesday morning will cause temperatures to plummet from highs in the mid-40s to low 50s early today to the 30s by afternoon and 20s tonight. Wind chill values will drop into the 20s today and the teens overnight. A Wind Advisory is in effect for the entire area, with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph expected through early Thursday morning.

Up to 16 inches of snow expected in snowbelt on Thanksgiving

Lake effect snow will develop Wednesday evening and intensify overnight into Thursday, particularly impacting the snowbelt counties east of Cleveland. Snowfall totals of 4 to 16 inches are expected across the Ohio snowbelt, with the highest amounts in northern Geauga County, southern Lake County and northeast Ashtabula County. The National Weather Service has issued a Lake Effect Snow Warning for these areas from 1 a.m. Thursday until 7 p.m. Friday. Snowfall rates may reach 1 to 2 inches per hour Thursday, Thanksgiving.

The combination of heavy snow and strong winds will create hazardous travel conditions with poor visibility and blowing snow. Motorists should avoid traveling unless absolutely necessary and carry a winter preparedness kit if they must travel.

Travel ban for high-profile vehicles issued for Ohio Turnpike

The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has issued a travel ban for high-profile vehicles along the entire 241-mile toll road beginning Wednesday morning.

According to a news release, the ban took effect at 8 a.m. and will remain in place until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, or until officials determine conditions are safe enough to lift the restriction.

Winter storm watch issued for parts of northern Ohio

A winter storm watch has been issued for parts of Northeast Ohio beginning Thanksgiving morning and extending through Friday evening.

The areas within the watch include Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties.

A gale warning has also been issued for Lake Erie through Friday morning, as winds could reach 40 knots.

Wind advisory in effect for area

A wind advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. Thursday through 1 a.m. Friday for counties along Lake Erie, where west winds of 20–30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph may cause downed limbs, scattered outages and hazardous travel, especially for high-profile vehicles.

Storm system expected to depart Friday

Lake effect snow will gradually taper off Friday from west to east as the weather system moves away. High temperatures will remain in the 30s through Saturday, with overnight lows falling into the upper teens to mid-20s Friday night.

The weekend will bring a brief reprieve on Saturday before another storm system approaches on Sunday, bringing rain that will transition to a rain/snow mix late Sunday and eventually to all snow by Monday. Temperatures will climb into the 40s on Sunday before returning to the upper 20s to low 30s early next week.

• A 72-year-old Dublin man was arrested in Utah and will be extradited to Ohio to face federal child exploitation charges.
• Wade Christofferson is accused of sexually abusing two children, one in Ohio and one in Utah, in at least 15 to 20 instances.

A Dublin man will return to Ohio to face federal child exploitation charges after authorities discovered a modified play area in his attic with children’s writing on the walls, court records say.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio said 72-year-old Wade Christofferson is accused of sexually abusing at least two children who were under the age of 10. There were at least 15 to 20 instances of abuse, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Christofferson is charged with attempting to sexually exploit a minor, coercion and enticement. Authorities arrested him on Nov. 20 in Utah.

Court records say Dublin police received a report about Christofferson on Nov. 12. An investigation determined one alleged victim lives in Ohio, and there is a second, who lived in Utah.

That same day, Dublin police searched Christofferson’s Wynford Drive home. Court records say a modified attic area of the home was accessible through a child-sized door with “H Potter” written on it. Inside that area, court records say there were children’s writing on the walls, as well as a mattress, pillows and blankets on the floor.

Additional investigation found searches on Christofferson’s phone for “In Ohio do clergy have to report child abuse confessions” and for defense attorneys who represent people accused of sex crimes, court records say.

According to court records, Christofferson had a sexually explicit FaceTime call with one of the victims that was overheard. In the call, Christofferson asked the child to see her “snow” and “friends,” code words for genitals he had taught her, court records say.

Christofferson is accused of sending coded letters to the Utah victim that would include handwritten messages he labeled “Top Secret.” 

In one letter, Christofferson referenced seeing the child’s genitals while on a FaceTime call, as well as saying he would teach the child “games” that are believed to be code for sexual activity, court records say. 

Christofferson is currently being held in Utah while awaiting extradition back to Ohio.

Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” has a storied history as a New York Times bestseller, as the then-31-year-old’s introduction to the nation as a “Trump whisperer,” as a divisive subject among Appalachian scholars, and, eventually, as a Ron Howard-directed movie.

Its latest role? Secretly transporting drugs into an Ohio prison.

The book was one of three items whose pages 30-year-old Austin Siebert, of Maumee southwest of Toledo, has been convicted of spraying with narcotics and then shipping to Grafton Correctional Institution disguised as Amazon orders. The others were a 2019 GRE Handbook and a separate piece of paper, according to court documents.

On Nov. 18, US District Judge Donald C. Nugent sentenced Siebert to more than a decade in prison for his role in the drug trafficking scheme.

Siebert and an inmate at the prison were caught in a recorded conversation discussing the shipment. He either didn’t know or didn’t care that a central theme of “Hillbilly Elegy” is the impacts of narcotics addiction on Vance’s family and the broader culture.

“Is it Hillbilly?” the inmate asks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Siebert replies, momentarily confused. Then, suddenly remembering, he says, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the book, the book I’m reading. (Expletive) romance novel.”