Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

[Itstrainingtime]

38 minutes ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

This is fair, and as you've said, it's all subjective.  I would go a bit higher though.  I believe you've talked before about grading on the "how often does it look and feel like winter" scale, which I completely agree with, and for me this winter just looked and felt a lot like what winter is supposed to be.  Even going back to some of the cold around the Thanksgiving time period and then the relentless cold through the first half of December and again from mid-January through mid-February.  The staying power of the snowpack during that stretch was something to behold, plus a number of days where snow was at least in the air.  While I agree my 22.3" of snow was nothing overly impressive, it just felt like more, and given expectations and some recent winters, I was pleased.  Now, is it fair to grade on that type of curve?  Probably not but everything is relative.  You are right that March has been mostly a dud but there have still been some very potent cold fronts that have brought about some cool events and it hasn't lacked for feeling like March, despite the positive temp anomaly (some of that may have to do with those aforementioned midnight highs distorting our daily summaries ha).  In any case, I thought it was a rock-solid winter pretty much from start to finish -- one I would sign up for again next year if I could right now -- and for that reason I'm going with a B+.  Great discussion. 

Thank you for sharing! I can't and won't argue any of that. And as I mentioned I think twice in my post, recency bias is something that I can struggle with. Sounds like our perception/opinion for the "true" winter months of December through February are quite similar, it seems like March is the month we have differing viewpoints of. As you mentioned, it can and hopefully will be a great discussion. 

[canderson]

It’s an a- for me simply because I see the river every day and it was frozen for 2.5 months.  I’m a simple man lol 

I didn’t know it was supposed to be windy today. North winds at 35 mph. 

[Voyager]

WTF.... 

It's only 38 in my Tamaqua backyard. Do we HAVE to get THIS cold the day after a 70+ reading?

I'd be ok with 48-52, but really...

[Yardstickgozinya]

Hope cherry picked from the nws forecast discussion . 

 

As we head into next week, all model signals point to aresurgence of Spring warmth to close out the month and kick off April. An anomalous ridge of high pressure will shift from the western US to the east coast and bring a prolonged stretch of southwesterly flow. This will support temperatures in the 60s and 70s for the middle of next week. As the western US ridge is replaced by a deep trough, severe weather chances will increase across the Plains. This will lead to a resurgence of moisture and a fairly active/rainy/stormy pattern in the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic through Easter weekend. Warm & wet looks like the theme for Central PA for the first couple weeks of April. Spring growth should commence with haste over the next few weeks.

 

[Itstrainingtime]

9 minutes ago, Yardstickgozinya said:

Hope cherry picked from the nws forecast discussion . 

 

As we head into next week, all model signals point to aresurgence of Spring warmth to close out the month and kick off April. An anomalous ridge of high pressure will shift from the western US to the east coast and bring a prolonged stretch of southwesterly flow. This will support temperatures in the 60s and 70s for the middle of next week. As the western US ridge is replaced by a deep trough, severe weather chances will increase across the Plains. This will lead to a resurgence of moisture and a fairly active/rainy/stormy pattern in the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic through Easter weekend. Warm & wet looks like the theme for Central PA for the first couple weeks of April. Spring growth should commence with haste over the next few weeks.

 

MU Weather adds this: (an actual preview of summer as we transition from March to April)

 A well-defined warm front will move through the Commonwealth from southwest-to-northeast Monday night and be accompanied by a few showers. Behind it, temperatures will likely be "off to the races" on Tuesday and Wednesday and soar back into the upper 70s to perhaps mid 80s. Record high temperatures on the last day of March and first day of April are generally in the low-to-mid 80s, so they may be challenged during the middle of next week with enough sunshine. Overnight lows will also be ridiculously high for this time of the year (50s/60s) and more typical of June. Temperature departures on Tuesday/Wednesday will be 20-25°F above normal.

[Yardstickgozinya]

I finally got myself some rain gauges. I did quite well for this. My wor buckets,  debris cans , rain gages and nws estimated  storm total all align.  Well over 1" here for me.

 

 

[Yardstickgozinya]

Although, none of them we're detected, there was several strokes of lightning very close to my home over the course of a couple minutes last night.  I believe that little area of deeper convection may have been the difference maker. 

[Voyager]

46 minutes ago, Yardstickgozinya said:

Warm & wet looks like the theme for Central PA for the first couple weeks of April. Spring growth should commence with haste over the next few weeks.

 

But then there's next Fridays forecast. Back down into the 40's...

Thursday Night

Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Friday

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. Chance of precipitation is 50%.