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Central PA - Winter 2020/2021


MAG5035
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8 minutes ago, JTrout said:

Alright storm is over, what's next....anything look interesting in the next week to anyone? Looks like we have a shot to keep the snow around till x-mas.  

12z GFS - near miss coastal next Monday, and then a major cold front coming in XMAS eve so never know maybe something will turnout. 

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12 minutes ago, canderson said:

I probably lose a weenie card for this comment but ... I think I now prefer snowstorms around 6-10”. A foot or more make it much harder to clear, get around, etc. 

Problem was, it wasn't a pure snowstorm. I thought shoveling 30" back in 2016 was relatively easy. This is a different animal with the high water content deeper in the pack. It's not the snow you mind clearing, it's what came with it. 

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3 minutes ago, MAG5035 said:

PSP Update on that I-80 wreck in Clinton County yesterday, 55 commercial vehicles and 11 passenger vehicles. 

https://wjactv.com/news/local/police-interstate-crash-with-dozens-of-vehicles-kills-2

 

So sad. Seems an inevitable occurrence on the interstates. Those semis don’t slow down, and when it’s a powder snow you can’t see a damn thing if you’re behind them.

Used to drive I-81 around Hazleton in a Dodge Carryvan and once got sandwiched with a semi in front, one behind, and one alongside.  Total whiteout - couldn’t see a thing and just prayed. Scared the hell out of me. Got to the point where I’d just use side roads during snow events.

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39 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

So sad. Seems an inevitable occurrence on the interstates. Those semis don’t slow down, and when it’s a powder snow you can’t see a damn thing if you’re behind them.

Used to drive I-81 around Hazleton in a Dodge Carryvan and once got sandwiched with a semi in front, one behind, and one alongside.  Total whiteout - couldn’t see a thing and just prayed. Scared the hell out of me. Got to the point where I’d just use side roads during snow events.

PennDOT banned commercial trucks down here - not sure up there. Problem with that is they have no where to park. 
 

I don’t trust most truck drivers (Voyager doesn’t count!) because so many speed, which is part of the industry.  Well and Swift hires anyone with a pulse apparently.... 

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1 hour ago, MAG5035 said:

PSP Update on that I-80 wreck in Clinton County yesterday, 55 commercial vehicles and 11 passenger vehicles. 

https://wjactv.com/news/local/police-interstate-crash-with-dozens-of-vehicles-kills-2

 

wasn't all commercial vehicles suppose to be off the highway by 1pm?

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2 minutes ago, canderson said:

PennDOT banned commercial trucks down here - not sure up there. Problem with that is they have no where to park. 
 

I don’t trust most truck drivers (Voyager doesn’t count!) because so many speed, which is part of the industry.  Well and Swift hires anyone with a pulse apparently.... 

Good point about no place to park. But they don’t seem to have a problem parking along the side when there’s ice. I once continued driving on Interstate 380 during an ice storm (in a Subaru) and passed by countless semis parked on the side.

Not so much of a problem during big storms when you know the roads will be bad and can plan ahead. The tricky times are when there are unexpected squalls. That’s what happened when I got sandwiched between those semis.

At least the NWS has recently implemented Squall Warnings. But it has to be a big persistent one to get warned on...that’s my take on it anyway.

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13 minutes ago, canderson said:

PennDOT banned commercial trucks down here - not sure up there. Problem with that is they have no where to park. 
 

I don’t trust most truck drivers (Voyager doesn’t count!) because so many speed, which is part of the industry.  Well and Swift hires anyone with a pulse apparently.... 

I literally hate going to calls on the interstate and we're out there several times a week. I fear for mine and everyone's life. My head is on a swivel. 

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1 hour ago, canderson said:

I probably lose a weenie card for this comment but ... I think I now prefer snowstorms around 6-10”. A foot or more make it much harder to clear, get around, etc. 

Make sure it is powery snow because wet snow sucks.

I just had 7 inches of cement in Brooklyn , NY

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35 minutes ago, sauss06 said:

wasn't all commercial vehicles suppose to be off the highway by 1pm?

I was looking back at PennDOT announcements for the district that happened in. They had their section of I-80 on a Tier 1 restriction which restricts tractors without trailers, light or unloaded trailers, motorhomes, personal vehicles with trailers, cargo delivery trucks meeting the definition of a commercial vehicle, school buses unless chains are used etc. I didn't realize they had a 5 tier restriction guideline. At any rate at some point (think it was after the accident), they put it up to a tier 3 from the Bellefonte interchange (I-99) east through the rest of Centre and Clinton.. which restricts all commercial vehicles except loaded single trailers with chains or approved alternate traction device. 

https://www.penndot.gov/TravelInPA/Winter/Pages/Vehicle-Restrictions.aspx

Either way given the ample advance warning of this storm and lane/speed restrictions in place, I'm kinda surprised such a massive crash could occur. Doesn't anyone use a CB anymore? Rapidly changing conditions with a squall is one thing.. but a large snowstorm is a pretty constant condition with reduced visibility and traction. 

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At any rate on to the weather going forward. I'm not seeing too much system wise between now and Christmas, other than maybe some kind of weak system at the beginning of this coming week. Temps are meh and setup kind of favors western and Laurels if there's any notable precip. Models have been pretty solid on an arctic cold shot crashing through on or about X-mas morning. Difference between models are on handling the frontal system. GFS has generally had an anafrontal look to it, with a rain to snow scenario with the frontal boundary. The Euro has a pretty dry frontal passage ushering in the very cold air. 12z Canadian had something insane that's not likely to happen, or at least I'd hope not. I don't think either the GFS or Euro scenario will completely erase much, if any of the snowpack even in most of the Sus Valley. 

As such, chances of a white Christmas (inch or greater on ground X-mas morning) seem pretty good. Zonal flow regime predominant for the next week, which will keep temps pretty seasonable. Also helping will be the presence of our new snowpack, which aside from the wildly varying top end amounts managed to give all of us in here and our western PA friends 10"+ plus sleet to anchor the pack in the LSV where it would be more vulnerable to a WAA intrusion. But a couple days of 40 or so this time of the year isn't going to melt things a ton, especially where the sleet fell. The only day/period that may be notably warmer is around the 23rd with that approaching frontal system. That may have more luck advecting warm air on a SW flow on the other side of the Laurel's but may not do much in central/eastern. 

Pattern wise going to the start of the New Year,  it seems pretty workable. We neutralize the +EPO, which by the way was pretty positive for this storm that just happened. Build a bit of +PNA in the X-mas period with the cold shot. NAO/AO neutral to slightly negative. MJO staying in the circle on most guidance. I don't really see any kind of an overwhelming influence from any particular teleconnection. So if models latch on to any particular system, especially week between Xmas and New Years.. I'd like our chances of keeping the wintry going.  

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