Central PA Winter 25/26 Discussion and Obs

[Superstorm]

I got down to 3.6F but the winds never went calm so no robust radiation cooling.


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[canderson]

Busted way high.  7 was my low.  

[Blizzard of 93]

Low of 4 in Marysville. My coldest morning of the season so far.

Skies went overcast in parts of the state, plus a light breeze that helped to keep temperatures up a bit.

[Festus]

1 hour ago, Festus said:

Similar deal here.  Got to exactly 0 at 3:00 AM but then rose to 5 when a little breeze came through.  Now back to 2.  

Local WU site bottomed at -1.7 at 7:20.  

Even with geothermal, looks like a $300 electric bill next month.  First time in the 26 years we've lived here.

[anotherman]

Got down to -1.1 on the York station and -3.1 on the Mount Joy station.

[Mount Joy Snowman]

Low of 5 here. Winds and clouds have been just fickle enough throughout recent nights to prevent total bottoming out, and have also lead to some unusual times for the lows. 

[str8liner]

Accuweather had -9 for me when I woke up and checked the AM. Was -6 yesterday AM. 

Still shows -5 on NWS page. I know it sure seemed like the coldest night so far by the way the furnace ran all night. 

 

 

 

[Voyager]

What gives? I'm overcast and actually have some very light snow/flurries falling here in Tamaqua.

[Blizzard of 93]

Ensembles all look active with Winter Storm chances from later this week through the end of their 15 or 16 day runs. 
 

[Itstrainingtime]

My low was 6.6. As I mentioned yesterday morning, I was concerned about cloud  over overnight.

It's been a very cold week. Sub-freezing temps wall to wall. And yet despite the fresh snow cover from last Sunday's storm this week fell quite short of modeled low temps here. My temp never fell below 5 degrees. That's at least a double digit departure about what at least some models indicated. I think it was @CarlislePaWx who shared an image last week showing MDT getting down to -19 this morning.

[MAG5035]

30 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

My low was 6.6. As I mentioned yesterday morning, I was concerned about cloud  over overnight.

It's been a very cold week. Sub-freezing temps wall to wall. And yet despite the fresh snow cover from last Sunday's storm this week fell quite short of modeled low temps here. My temp never fell below 5 degrees. That's at least a double digit departure about what at least some models indicated. I think it was @CarlislePaWx who shared an image last week showing MDT getting down to -19 this morning.

Friday morning was the only morning I ended up below zero here (-3 or -4ºF), I got to exactly 0.0ºF last night. Light influences from the developing coastal in the form of light wind and cloudcover as you mentioned likely kept things from fully decoupling. Still been a heck of a cold stretch, when the temps likely fail to reach 20ºF again here today that will break the longest streak of days under 20ºF for KAOO that goes back to 1948 for that station. That was 7 consecutive days set in Feb 1979, and today will make the 8th day. 

The lows in western PA the last few nights have been wild where there has been ideal radiational cooling conditions. For official ASOS stations, the coldest I saw for last night was -20ºF north of Pittsburgh at Zelionople Municipal Airport (KPJC). 

[ChescoWx]

A few places touched zero this morning including the icebox of Chester County the Warwick DEOS station that set an all-time record low with records back to 2012 of 10.7 degrees below zero. The old record was 9.1 below zero on January 22, 2025. Our impressive cold stretch continues through the weekend with today being our 8th straight day of sub 32 highs. This is tied for 8th longest streak since 1893. Our best chance to end the streak and get above freezing looks to be on Tuesday with the NWS forecasting a high of 30 degrees. January will end as our 4th consecutive below normal temperature month and our 9th below average month in the last 12 months dating back to December 2024. Could we be entering our next climate cooling cycle here in Chester County?? While cold most of the next week looks dry but there could be a couple chances of some snow toward midweek and again next weekend.

[Mount Joy Snowman]

It really depends what your local conditions were like for how low you went last night. A good bit of variety across the local ASOS stations: RDG 5, CXY 4, LNS 1, MDT 0, and THV -8. I believe MDT’s zero reading will be a new record low for today, breaking the previous record of 2 from 1948. 

[mahantango#1]

How far is Harrisburg running below normal so far this month?

[canderson]

In Manhattan and if you hit subnets hit miserable out given no wind 

[Mount Joy Snowman]

45 minutes ago, mahantango#1 said:

How far is Harrisburg running below normal so far this month?

3.6 BN

[MAG5035]

System wise this coming week I don’t think we’re dead in the water yet for the Wednesday system, especially in the southern half of PA. NBM guidance has measurable from roughly the turnpike south and GFS generally in that ballpark. This certainly has time to trend back our way, though I think it would just be a lighter snowfall on the table. 

Solid agreement beyond that for a strong clipper tracking SE thru the lakes around the Fri-Sat timeframe. While staying plenty cold, low track north of PA might have the typical downsloping issues east of the mountains we’ve dealt with a lot this winter.. so we’ll see. As progged it’s a pretty strong system for a clipper, and it looks to usher in another reinforcing shot of arctic air. 

[Voyager]

5 minutes ago, MAG5035 said:

 and it looks to usher in another reinforcing shot of arctic air. 

Good God... 

I know you guys love winter, but really, when is this pattern going to flip or relax, and why has it been so persistent? 

 

[Rd9108]

8 minutes ago, Voyager said:

Good God... 

I know you guys love winter, but really, when is this pattern going to flip or relax, and why has it been so persistent? 

 

When's the last time the Northeast had a winter like this where DJF were all below average with a constant snow pack for weeks??

[MikeB_01]

Friday morning was the only morning I ended up below zero here (-3 or -4ºF), I got to exactly 0.0ºF last night. Light influences from the developing coastal in the form of light wind and cloudcover as you mentioned likely kept things from fully decoupling. Still been a heck of a cold stretch, when the temps likely fail to reach 20ºF again here today that will break the longest streak of days under 20ºF for KAOO that goes back to 1948 for that station. That was 7 consecutive days set in Feb 1979, and today will make the 8th day. 
The lows in western PA the last few nights have been wild where there has been ideal radiational cooling conditions. For official ASOS stations, the coldest I saw for last night was -20ºF north of Pittsburgh at Zelionople Municipal Airport (KPJC). 

-12° from my station in Bethel Park.

Early this morning, KPIT set a record and was the coldest temp reached since 1994 at -11°.


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[Voyager]

34 minutes ago, Rd9108 said:

When's the last time the Northeast had a winter like this where DJF were all below average with a constant snow pack for weeks??

Average winter cold is fine. These repeated arctic blasts, however, are destroying me. I'm so stressed out that I've been frequently getting tightness and chest pains. It's beginning to affect my health. To those who might say that I should have stayed in AZ, or that I need to move, you are correct, I do....except said scenarios WOULD HAVE and WILL lead to divorce, because my stubborn wife will not leave PA.

[mahantango#1]

49 minutes ago, Voyager said:

Good God... 

I know you guys love winter, but really, when is this pattern going to flip or relax, and why has it been so persistent? 

 

Maybe you should think of it as a refreshing, reinforcing shot of arctic air 

[mahantango#1]

3 minutes ago, Voyager said:

Average winter cold is fine. These repeated arctic blasts, however, are destroying me. I'm so stressed out that I've been frequently getting tightness and chest pains. It's beginning to affect my health. To those who might say that I should have stayed in AZ, or that I need to move, you are correct, I do....except said scenarios WOULD HAVE and WILL lead to divorce, because my stubborn wife will not leave PA.

Well get through this, but it's going to take time. Days are getting longer. So on that part, things are slowly looking optimistic.

[Itstrainingtime]

Have to keep an eye on the river. If we were to get a big warmup and/or a lot of rain we're going to look out for ice jams.

[2001kx]

Low yesterday at my place was -18

Houtzdale was -21 on the car thermometer

[Superstorm]

Meanwhile, Emarald Island, NC

https://www.emeraldisle-nc.org/375/EI-Live-Cameras


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[Blizzard of 93]

1 hour ago, MAG5035 said:

System wise this coming week I don’t think we’re dead in the water yet for the Wednesday system, especially in the southern half of PA. NBM guidance has measurable from roughly the turnpike south and GFS generally in that ballpark. This certainly has time to trend back our way, though I think it would just be a lighter snowfall on the table. 

Solid agreement beyond that for a strong clipper tracking SE thru the lakes around the Fri-Sat timeframe. While staying plenty cold, low track north of PA might have the typical downsloping issues east of the mountains we’ve dealt with a lot this winter.. so we’ll see. As progged it’s a pretty strong system for a clipper, and it looks to usher in another reinforcing shot of arctic air. 

Agreed, the Wednesday weak wave has the chance to juice back up a bit for southern PA to maybe give up to a couple of inches at most.

The Euro has been advertising that vigorous Clipper for next weekend that could drop a few inches for many of us. The 12z Euro this run is trying to drop it under PA a bit & then jump it off of the coast.

[Blizzard of 93]

Here is the 12z Euro for the Wednesday weak wave chance.

[Blizzard of 93]

Here is the 12z Euro got the juiced up Clipper chance next weekend.

Snow map through next Saturday pm.

[Itstrainingtime]

3 hours ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

It really depends what your local conditions were like for how low you went last night. A good bit of variety across the local ASOS stations: RDG 5, CXY 4, LNS 1, MDT 0, and THV -8. I believe MDT’s zero reading will be a new record low for today, breaking the previous record of 2 from 1948. 

Good point!

The only (and final) thing I'll had to this week's temps - I was sitting in Key West this past Sunday looking at highs of 16, 14 and 12 for Thursday through today here. I've actually hit at least 20 on all 3 of those days. 20 just doesn't seem nearly as extreme as a high of 12.