CoralRed

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.

I don't know why but that is supposed to happen here in Williamsport, too. Our hourlies are supposed to be: 11p-2; 12a-3; 1a-2; 2a-7a-4. I see the wind is supposed to go up and down a bit, too. I am so glad that the snow washed away by all that rain is still gone; I only saw random flakes today. I just realized our wind gusts look like daytime highs: Tonight Flurries. Cloudy, with a low around -2. Wind chill values as low as -25. West wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Saturday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 12. Wind chill values as low as -20. West wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind chill values as low as -5. West wind around 11 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Christmas Day Partly sunny, with a high near 22. Wind chill values as low as -5. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Sunday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 8. West wind around 7 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

My perception yesterday was that not much was happening most of the time yet it turns out we broke the Williamsport maximum daily precipitation record at 1.35". Go figure. Previous record was 1.23 in 1907.

It was already happening today with weather.com's 14 day forecast for Williamsport. Between 3:00 and 5:30 it went from maybe 6-8 for next week to between 12-18 and back down again. Yeah I could not believe Thurs night suddenly was 8-12 -- and then everything back down. This past storm was a real pain with changing or not changing and not going as predicted. NWS kept calling for about double what we got way past the point yesterday they should have changed. I hope we don't have 6 days of extreme seesawing like that but we shall see.

Ha! The wind left our sails here in Williamsport while I was asleep. I went to bed around 6:00 and at that time, temperature predictions had gone down a few degrees and accumulations had gone up. Woke up around 11:30 and quickly heard the sounds of weather outside; too noisy to think about going back to sleep. Went outside, I could see the grass through the white which is glistening, so not just snow. Currently "rain and snow". Wunderground now calling for just 3.1 snow today, .12 rain Friday. NWS calls for more: This Afternoon Freezing rain and sleet before 2pm, then freezing rain between 2pm and 4pm, then snow after 4pm. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 35. East wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. Tonight Snow before 9pm, then rain. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 34. East wind 5 to 8 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Friday Rain likely, mainly before 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 38. West wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

5:15a More from the Williamsport Night Crew: From weather.com's 14 day forecast snow chances for right before Christmas. Thur Dec 22 50% Day 1-3; Night 1-3 Fri Dec 23 60% Day 1-3; Night 3-5 Sat Dec 24 50% Day 1-3 Temps stay below 32 from Thur night through at least the following Tues night. Let us see what we get.

More about Thursday-Friday from 4:05a Area Discussion: A pair of jet left exit regions arriving one after the other from the southwest will provide at least two periods of stronger forcing that could meld together and create steady moderate to heavy snow with rates of 1-2 inches per hour at times Thursday afternoon and evening, coinciding with the period of strongest llvl easterly flow. Although this upcoming event is an open wave embedded in the SW flow aloft, the increasing upper diffluence, and rapidly developing coastal low over the Delmarva Region Thursday night will create the potential for some heavy snow totals in excess of 10 inches across parts of the Central and Northern Mtns. Previous Disc...

4:30a: Williamsport and a lot of the middle of the state just got a Winter Storm Watch at 4:25: WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches and ice accumulations of around one tenth of an inch possible. Thursday Snow, freezing rain, and sleet, becoming all snow after 8am. High near 34. Southeast wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. Thursday Night Snow before 4am, then rain between 4am and 5am, then snow after 5am. Low around 34. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. Friday Snow before 8am, then rain likely. High near 39. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

I missed things earlier. Three points: 1. I personally just scroll by when you guys talk sports, no problem. I pretty much don't care about what people say or post. 2. If there is interest in a banter thread so this one stays mostly focused on weather, people should just create one and we can see how it goes. 3. The only thing that bothers me is the idea that people hold back and don't say or post what they want to. Please just share your thoughts and things you find relevant or interesting and others might, too.

5:45p Williamsport: The weather just scared me! I was eating and watching TV and suddenly the window showed light where there had been darkness and I could see a long thin bluish white line was stretched across from left to right. I was startled and then I realized of course it had to be lightening. As I recall, we were only supposed to have .25 rain mostly during day which I figured should be ending soon. Now we have .36 rain tonight; updated forecast still has no mention of thunderstorms even though I see others have gotten them, too. Yes this is funny but it shows how little raining and storming we have had for months. I'm not used to it anymore! I didn't use my umbrella for over a month this fall and didn't use it much this summer either. Not much rain, especially during daylight hours. The sky when it wasn't raining today was about the same as when it was. The dreariness was intense. I am glad this happened today instead of earlier in the holiday weekend. 6:15: Another phenomenon! I was getting more food in the kitchen when things suddenly were darker. I turned around, looked up and yes, one of the lightbulbs had gone out. I am now armed with some LED bulbs so when I replace the halogens tomorrow, I should have to do it again for years, i guess. I hope I am left in peace now for the rest of the night. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.

I am the least likely person to answer but I looked up some maps and stuff when no one else responded. I can only say after what has been going on in Western NY and around Erie, if I were doing this I'd get on the highway running south from near Montreal and travel to near NYC and take things from there. I used to go from Williamsport to school in Pittsburgh, usually on the bus but my loyal "just a local driver" Mom went out each year and came back to move me and my stuff in and out of the dorm. Good old Mom. The first time we took 80 and dropped down near Pittsburgh and realized that took too long. After that, it was 220 to 22, we picked up 22 around Altoona, I think. I cannot say how much I would make sure I avoided anything near the collosal highway mess this storm is causing now and still will be causing on Sunday. Far better to go out of your way but be sure you can keep moving at normal speed the entire way, especially if you are on your own. Hopes this helps you and your friend.

This reminds me of when I still lived in NJ and Christie closed the roads for a storm and I was quite surprised. But back then I thought of all the businesses who want to stay open no matter what and insist employees come in and/or don't go home when they should and I realized what a smart and necessary decision it was. Now I am sorry to say we have to add in people who don't seem to know what common sense is in a big snowstorm, which I would say is greater than it used to be. Again, I have to say this is right and necessary decision. When roads are closed, that's it.

This is great! I know I am not the only one from the Central PA forum checking in here. I hope everybody stays safe and keeps reporting in so we know what's happening. Looks like there may be a big one next week, too. Wild days for November, especially when it was in the mid 70s just last week here in Williamsport.

We had an OK start here in Williamsport but around 8:15 I opened door and saw nothing but it felt very cold so I scurried back inside. Maybe an hour later there were raindrops on window. Doesn't look pretty out and we've reached the end, I think, nothing overnight to speak of. Have to rate this one a letdown. Glad others had a much better experience. They still have advisory up until 11a tomorrow, though. Why: "ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The heavy snow has moved out and only patchy drizzle and light snow is expected. Temperatures are rising, and should rise a couple more degrees overnight to go just above freezing in most places. Sub-freezing air coupled with the drizzle will still pose a threat to make light accumulations of ice."

Surprise! Looks like more than expected coming our way. At the Library, finally checked again on weather for Williamsport. We didn't get flakes -- nice big ones, which I was very happy to see -- until shortly after 3:00 but I guess we will make up for the slow start. It is just 33 at Montoursville Airport and will be for several hours, then it will go to mid-upper 30s. We were not supposed to go below something like 36. Snow amounts now saying 3"-5" instead of 1-3; 3" just from 6:00-8:00. I wasn't expecting that at all. On the other hand, I thought we'd get more overnight but I see only .6", all rain, at 35-36.

There is a weather map on the front page of washingtonpost.com with rain totals for Nicole. Oddly enough among the biggest totals outside of the northeastern FL coast -- which will be around 3.5" or so -- will be here around Williamsport, which is supposed to get a bit under 3". As it goes north the highest numbers still don't drop off as much as you might think. Maine's highest is a bit above 2". But of course we all know the real totals will be different. It will be interesting to see by how much.