The Power of 5 meteorologists get a lot of emails every day, and most of them fall into the categories below. Please check this list before sending your email. Sending an email that asks a question similar to those listed below may not get a response.

Where is the Snow Belt?

Although lake-effect snow squalls can occur anywhere in Ohio, there are two main areas in northeastern Ohio that get socked with lake-effect snow squalls each winter.

The primary snow belt gets anywhere from 60 to 110-plus inches of snow per year.

It consists of the eastern half of Cuyahoga County, and all of Geauga, Lake and Ashtabula counties. Some of the major municipalites in this area are Euclid, Bedford, Solon, Lyndhurst, Ashtabula, Jefferson, Conneaut, Andover, Chardon, Burton, Chesterland, Chagrin Falls, Madison, Painesville, Mentor, Willoughby and Kirtland.

The secondary snow belt usually gets 40 to 80 inches of snow per winter and consists of the western half of Cuyahoga County, Lorain and Medina counties, plus the portions of Summit, Portage and Trumbull counties north of Interstate 80. It includes the cities of Cleveland, Bay Village, Westlake, Lorain, Strongsville, Oberlin, North Ridgeville, North Olmsted, Brook Park, Medina, Broadview Heights, Brecksville, Brunswick, Twinsburg, Hudson, Aurora, Garrettsville, and North Bloomfield.

The city of Akron is technically not in the snow belt, but can and does receive lake-effect snowfalls. Read More

I'm having a problem with severe weather email alerts (ie, not receiving them/do not wish to receive them any longer).

E-mail: nn5news@newsnet5.com

How do I get my school/event listed on the school closings?

E-mail: ensign@wews.com if your school is or needs to be included in our automated school closing system. We do not list event cancellations on air. You can e-mail other closings to 5tips@newsnet5.com

Why must you interrupt my favorite program with a severe weather bulletin when nothing is happening here?

We cover 26 counties, and when we go on live, everybody who gets our signal gets the same thing. While we apologize for staying on during tornadoes, we need to be there for those experiencing the weather.

Also, we stay on during the warning period so those just tuning in get up-to-the-second information. We will tend to repeat a lot of information quite a bit, but you must realize different people will turn on the tv at different times. While it is frustrating, we hope you realize if this tornado was in your town or on your street, you would want that information -- even if someone two counties away couldn't care less.

If you wish to share your comments with the management about severe weather coverage, send an email to feedback5@newsnet5.com

What was the weather like on (insert past date)?

Click on the 'CLIMATE DATA' bar at the top of the page, and then choose from "Monthly Climate Summary" for Cleveland, Akron or Mansfield. Pick the month from the drop-down menus. The columns list the date, high/low, precip, snow, amount of sunshine, and peak wind gusts.

If you need official information for insurance or litigation, you must contact the National Climatic Data Center at www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html. Insurance companies and courts of law will not recognize any data coming from other sources, including NewsChannel 5.

What will the weather be like in a city outside of our area?

If you're going on a trip or just want to know what the weather is doing outside of our area visit www.erh.noaa.gov and type in the city and state you're looking for in local forecast window towards the upper left corner.

I have a trip/wedding/event in the future. What will the exact weather be like?

Every day, we develop a 5-day and 10-day outlook. We will not issue a forecast for anything past that period. If you have an event a few weeks or months down the line, we can give you an idea of what the average weather is for that date, but your best bet is to wait until 1-2 weeks away, and check with us then. After that, make sure you consult the forecast again and again as the date draws closer. At no point will we offer advice on whether you should cancel the event.

Why does the lake temperature seem a few degrees off?

The Cleveland water temperature is measured in the crib location, which is 40 feet below the surface and three miles offshore. Surface water temps along the shoreline may be a bit colder or warmer, depending upon recent weather or lake water movements. This is why although the lake may ice over in the winter, the crib temperature may still be above 32 degrees...and a summer lake temp of 68 may feel more like 74 if you step in the water.

Why are the temperatures listed on the maps and internet different from what my backyard thermometer reads?

Official temperatures are taken in the shade, around 6 to 8 feet off the ground. Many official observations are taken at airports, which are surrounded with blacktop or concrete. Other temperatures are recorded downtown in major cities. There is a phenomena known as the "Urban Heat Island Effect," which means that lack of dense greenery plus the heat-absorbing building and ground materials tend to skew temperatures. While it may be 65 degrees in your backyard, it may be 5-10 degrees warmer (or more) where the official thermometer is located.

Why does the radar time stamp not match the current time?

In most instances, it is because your web browser is not loading the most current version of our weather page. Make sure to hit "reload" or "refresh" on your tool bar. If you use Internet Explorer, go to "tools," then "Internet Options," then by "temporary internet files," click "settings." Where it says "check for newer versions of stored pages," click "Automatically."

What was the snowiest, rainiest, driest, hottest, year/season/month, etc ?

To find out information on record weather numbers check out the "weather records" section of the National Weather Service link at www.erh.noaa. gov

What day does autumn/spring/winter/summer start?

Find out the start of each season at www.erh.noaa. gov

What is the sunrise/sunset/moon phase (for a specific date)?

If you're curious about when to expect the sun to rise and set check out http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data

The sun/moon has a weird halo around it. What causes this?

The halo is caused by cirrostratus clouds, which are made of ice crystals. The ice makes the sun or moon's color refract into a hazy halo. It is usually most obvious when the moon is full.

What are the fall and spring freeze/frost dates?

If you want to know when winter will dissolve into a spring thaw check out www.erh.noa a.gov/cle/climate/info/spring_thaw.html If you need to know when to expect the fall freeze take a look at www.erh.noa a.gov/cle/climate/info/fall_freeze.html

I need help with a school project. ...

At NewsChannel5, we do not furnish students with answers or research for school assignments or projects. The point of the assignment is for the student to do his/her own work. Their best bet is to search for the topic at google.com and enter some key words on the subject matter. However, if a student is having a difficult time finding information, we will be happy to point you toward where they may find information on the topic.

Why is your forecast so different from the Weather Channel's local forecast?

A while back, the Weather Channel stopped using the National Weather Service's local forecast and replaced it with their own specialized computer model forecast. This generates the entire national forecast, from the conditions and chance of precipitation, to the temperatures. It then divides the USA up into smaller grids, and whatever the computer model estimates for that grid becomes the local forecast. There is no local human contributing to the forecast.

Do you offer internships in the weather department?

Yes, we do. They are unpaid internships, and for college credit only. You must be at an accredited college or university that allows for an internship, and will award you credit. We prefer interns to have some meteorology coursework completed, so we can focus on applying forecast techniques to broadcasting.

I'm interested in becoming a meteorologist. What are some good colleges?

If you're interested in studying meteorology consult the list of colleges found on the following link. Make sure during your high school years that you take as much math and science as you can. If possible, take a calculus and physics class before college. www.nssl.noaa.gov

Why do you always have the same cities on the temperature and radar maps?

We use a computer system with automated data. We are able to plot only the cities that have a reporting station for the National Weather Service. We do have a few maps where we insert temperatures from our weather watchers in certain towns.

On our Power of 5 Doppler Network, the mapping system pops up cities by population when the aerial coverage gets smaller. Hence, if you see the entire viewing area, there may be only seven cities listed. But, if we zoom into Cuyahoga county, you'll see about 10 local cities pop up.

In some instances, we may list a certain town due to space. For instance, we may list "Dover" versus "New Philadelphia" since we need to keep the font size large enough for everyone to be able to see it.

Can one of the meteorologists come speak at my school/event?

Send all requests for speaking engagements to the promotions department at fikac@wews.com.

Do you have breaking news or reporting current weather conditions, click here.

If you have a question or comment about something on tv (NewsChannel 5 personnel, severe weather updates, interruption of programming), click here.

If you have a question or comment about the Weathernet5 website, including features or technical issues, click here.

If your question has still not been answered, click here While we try to answer every email, due to the large volume of email we receive, we may not be able to respond to submissions containing questions covered in the FAQ list, or relating to programming or website issues.