CoralRed

I hit this Pittsburgh forum by mistake instead of my Central PA one. But I am glad I did. This was so interesting and I still love Pittsburgh after four years there for school and two years after. Would love to get back there someday.

Just watching weather report on 6:30 ABC News. They showed storm moving east and on Friday, their map had all of PA in white and the word HEAVY centered right above the NY state border and SNOW centered right below it on the PA border. Wunderground still says 1.5 for us here in Williamsport. NWS says about an inch. I took a look at Scranton out of curiosity and "light accumulation" for them in NEPA, too. So will things change between now and Friday?

Thanks for posting these. The last minute storm of yesterday wasn't much but did deliver. Will these upcoming storms also break our terrible pattern of disappearing or almost disappearing? I hope not. I cannot say I am optimistic exactly but I am not ready to be disappointed, so that is progress.

Wrapup: Snow ended here around 3:00 and when I opened front door, I could hear drip drip drip of it already melting. I didn't expect that at 32. I tried to give a good account in case anybody ever wanted to look back on this little snowstorm. Looks like we here will be at low end for next week's Tues/Wed storm. We are going to have gusty winds here the next few days. Maybe you all will, too. Today Partly sunny this morning, then clearing. Blustery with highs in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Gusts up to 40 mph this afternoon. Tonight Mostly cloudy and blustery. Lows in the lower 20s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Wednesday Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 30s. North winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Wednesday Night Mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s. North winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Thursday Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 40s. North winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

It seems strange that it is just going to kind of shut off. It is going good here, I can see it coming down as I type and this is definitely one of our better periods of snow this year here in Williamsport. I am sorry it won't last longer and that others didn't get it.

12:38 Updated Area Forecast Discussion: NEAR TERM /UNTIL 7 AM THIS MORNING/... An area of fast moving bands of snow, some moderate to heavy, is moving along as expected. Conditions starting to improve at BFD, while snow has made it to the office here. While the temperatures across the southeast are still above freezing, much of the area to the north is near or just below freezing. Gusty northeast winds early this morning will continue to pull in colder and drier air.

This is what the crystal ball at Wunderground says about Williamsport at 11:45: 11:45 PM - 12:30 AM TYPE ACCUMULATION Heavy Snowfall 1.00 in 12:30 AM - 12:45 AM TYPE ACCUMULATION Moderate Snowfall 0.23 in 12:45 AM - 2:15 AM TYPE ACCUMULATION Heavy Snowfall 1.55 in 2:15 AM - 4:45 AM TYPE ACCUMULATION Moderate Snowfall 1.35 in

I will remember this winter for the skyrocketing utilities, the warmth and my suppressed screams as every predicted snowfall went down, down, down.

9:55p Map update. I see differences west and east in PA, plus NY state.

9:05p: Realized all was quiet -- no more raindrops hitting porch -- so looked out and yes, lightly snowing now. Last outbound bus went by quickly like they wanted to do their run and get home ASAP, which is probably true. 34 now and will be 32 all night. Wunderground's hourly says 4 inches by 2:00, nothing after that. Not many up here in North Central PA. Maybe one of the other people will chime in too. I hope so.

Will we get this in North Central PA? We have all night to find out.

I updated my post. NWS calling for Renovo to get 5-9. What a surprise if they and others get close to double digits. Given the season, you are right. This is all unexpected excitement.

Channel 16 at 7:00 weather guy said there will be 10-15 mile corridor that should see 4-6 inches and it will include both Northern and Southern Lycoming County. Some places will get warnings. Williamsport is in Southern Lycoming County. He had us down for 4 inches on his map. Will we actually get it? No bets here. Will I be sorry tomorrow that I still didn't spray my boots after six weeks? I will have to let you know. 7:20 Update. I went to weather.gov and clicked into pink warning area to my north. This is for Renovo, possible more than Channel 16 said: Tonight Rain and snow before 3am, then a chance of snow between 3am and 5am. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 27. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Winter Weather Advisory for us tonight in Williamsport. Wasn't expecting this until I just read this page a few minutes ago, then checked out local weather. We are supposed to hit 48 at 4:00. Description ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 AM EST TUESDAY... WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations averaging between 2 and 4 inches in the valleys and to the south of Interstate 80, with locally as much as 6 inches across the higher terrain between Interstate 80 and Route 6 in the Northern Tier counties of Pennsylvania. WHERE...Portions of central Pennsylvania. WHEN...From 6 PM this evening to 5 AM EST Tuesday. IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening commute. ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The snow will initially be wet with accumulations prior to dusk being highly elevation dependent since temperatures at the onset of snow will be in the 30s to around 40 degrees.

3:40a Williamsport: It is 45 now. Up to 64 later today and only down to 45 tomorrow night. What a strange February and it is already half over. So far it looks like this month will always be remembered for secret weather balloons. Hard to believe, isn't it?

7:35a Williamsport Report: It is 2/4/23, the temperature at Montoursville airport is 4 and winds are SW at just 4. We will have a high of around 30 later on. What a rollercoaster -- not that I am complaining that the deep dive in temperature and high winds ended so quickly.

"Needless to say, such conditions [at Mount Washington] will pose a great risk to anyone that plans on venturing to the higher summits." Let me get this straight: They do not close down up there when things get this bad? That is the impression this gives me. Isn't allowing Joe Public to go anywhere they want, any time they want up there giving a license to the idiots of America to be as idiotic as possible? Why do that?

Here are some eye-poppers from State College NWS. I wish they had stated the departures for all the places. January 2023 was quite a month when it came to weather. Unfortunately things didn't go as people here hoped: Williamsport had an average temperature of 37.5 degrees, which was the second warmest January on record. Record was 40.2 degrees in 1932. Harrisburg had an average temperature of 39.7 degrees, which was the third warmest January on record. Record was 42.5 degrees in 1932, and 39.8 degrees in 1950. Altoona had an average temperature of 37.3 degrees, which was 8.9 degrees above normal. Bradford had an average temperature of 32.9 degrees, which was 9.8 degrees above normal. Johnstown had an average temperature of 34.6 degrees, which was 8.3 degrees above normal.

3:32a: I was checking around and saw that NWS has gotten rid of all Winter Weather Watches in North Central PA and replaced them with Winter Weather Advisories. None of the text forecasts mention it will be heavy wet snow and only NWS text mentions wind gusts, saying up to 30 when Advisory says 40. Lots of people won't realize how bad it will be because they won't know about wind gusts and heavy wet snow. It wouldn't be hard for all the weather companies to list wind gusts in their text forecasts. As someone who doesn't drive, let me tell you high wind gusts can be the make the difference between deciding to go out or stay home. On a lighter note, I have a dental appointment at 2:00, less than a 10 minute drive from where I live in Williamsport. I was going to cancel but didn't since new appointments are going out to July. I can take bus or Uber and the dental office may or may not cancel afternoon appointments. I was hoping to be able to figure out by now if I can probably make it or not, but I still have no idea. So if you want, you can weigh in on whether I will go or not. * WHAT...Mixed precipitation expected. Total snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches and ice accumulations of a light glaze. Wind gusting as high as 40 mph. * WHERE...Portions of central Pennsylvania. * WHEN...Until 7 PM EST this evening. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snow-covered roads and reduced visibility will make travel difficult. Gusty winds and heavy wet snow may result in downed trees and power outages. Snow will transition to mixed precipitation during the afternoon and evening.

I just came across this from a TV station. I don't know if anybody posted this when it came out in December. It covers highlights and stats for every winter for the last 100 years so you can look up the year you were born. I was born in the fall so I didn't find the year of my birth interesting, but the year after when I was a few months old. I wish the stats were just for PA and not the whole country, but it is is still pretty interesting. https://www.abc27.com/history/what-winter-was-like-the-year-you-were-born/?ipid=promo-link-block1

Here is the sort of surprising zone forecast for Southern Lycoming. To me, heavy snow is a lot more than 3-7: Wednesday Snow. Snow may be heavy at times. Heavy snow accumulation. Highs in the mid 30s. Southeast winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent. Here is forecast for South Williamsport: Wednesday Snow, mainly after 7am. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 34. Light east wind becoming southeast 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

It makes no sense to me. An obvious answer is that it was a local business and the owners wanted to leave early/come in late or not at all too. But US has had thousands of business with out of town owners for over 100 years and in the past they didn't act like snow and flooding was in fact not happening. At this scale, punishing people for the weather is something pretty new. This is bringing me into "don't get me started" territory. US companies want Americans to buy from them and pay top dollar. At the same time, they would rather hire a cheap foreign worker instead of an American and then treat all employees, American and foreign, like crap. I guess you can tell, I get so disgusted and will turn myself off now. So yeah, I have no faith in forcing common sense and sanity on employers or people who don't have it, so that is why I say only answer is to close roads quicker and longer. If we can teach the children to think differently, that's where we can see real change someday.

This New York Times article about how weather people talk about weather is free over at Yahoo, so I thought I'd share the link. We need to do a better job communicating weather conditions and risks to Americans. My sense is some of the people who died recently in Buffalo's blizzards really did not realize the risk they were taking. Same out West with the rains, although far fewer died. I do not know what we do with the people don't pay attention or who discount and dismiss all weather warnings -- and there are a lot of them. But we can do something about people getting stuck. Now that so many employers threaten people's jobs over leaving early, not finishing deliveries, coming in late or not at all per weather conditions, I think the government is going to have to be a lot more aggressive in closing roads. What else can be done when employers won't care about employees? Earlier road closings would have saved lives in Buffalo, I think. https://www.yahoo.com/news/talk-talk-weather-130437818.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

5:00a Williamsport Report: Here's today's second Merry Christmas to All wish. And let me say how happy I am not to be anywhere near the mess up in Buffalo. Things are improving here: 16 now, winds down to 13; high will be 21. Hard to believe New Year's Eve will be 42 and New Year's 53/39. Have a great day today, everyone!

That is why they have to put the bans out way in advance -- certainly the night before. Today's employers have lost their minds with demanding impossible things. What was the use of requiring people to come in when it was clear (1) that they were probably weren't going to make it and (2) everybody else was going to stay home -- so no customers? Government has to show sense when employers don't and close down roads. In this case, holiday travelers have to either leave early or stay home. This enormous storm has been talked about for over a week. If the local politicians don't want to be the bad guys, the governor should step in. When I try to imagine being stuck in a car at night up there, no visibility as snow just keeps coming down, freezing cold and alone for hours, I would do anything to avoid a possibility of that ever happening to me. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all from me here in Williamsport, PA.