MOOSIC, Pa. —
Snowfall Amounts Thursday:
Snow accumulations Thursday morning into early afternoon ranged between just a coating to as much as 6" in the mountains and parts of Central PA before changing to rain.
Weather Alerts:
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch, Wind Advisories, Wind Chill Warnings and Advisories for much of the area.
Flood Watch in effect until Friday evening.
Wind Advisory in effect until Friday evening. Wind gusts could reach 50 MPH
Wind Chill Warnings and Advisories in effect until Saturday afternoon. Wind chills could reach 25 to 30 degrees below zero Friday night into Saturday due to the combination of bitterly cold temperatures and gusty wind.
Impacts:
The big concern on Friday is for a flash freeze. This happens when any standing water "freezes in a flash", hence the expression flash freeze.
The Arctic Cold front reaches central PA by 8-10AM; Valley Cities 9-11AM; Poconos 10AM-Noon. This will quickly change rain over to snow. Shortly thereafter, temperatures drop rapidly. This makes driving VERY treacherous and there's really not much our road crews can do. The heavy rain washes any residual salt away and crews can't salt while it's raining. The best course of action is to simply avoid driving mid morning Friday through the evening if at all possible. Also of note, once temperatures drop below 20 degrees, salt treatments become much less effective. So it will take awhile for road conditions to improve Friday evening and night.
Winds have ramped up and will remain gusty through much of the day Friday. Due to the combination of a rapid freeze and strong winds, the power outage risk is high. We've highlighted the difference in the valley gusts versus hilltop gusts in the maps above. Generally speaking, wind gusts of 30-40 MPH are expected for several hours in the valleys with gusts of 40-50 MPH possible in the higher elevations. Losing power in the bitter cold that's coming in for the weekend would be no joke.
Additional Snow:
We'll see a burst of snow as the Arctic Cold Front comes through Friday morning. We'll see a quick coating to 2" from snow from this. Much lighter snow may persist through much of the day which could lead to an additional inch or so of snow. This will make for slippery travel, especially when combined with the flash freeze.
While we expect travel conditions to be better this weekend, it's not like it will be summer driving conditions. The bitter cold temps make it harder for road treatments to melt away the ice. You will still need to leave some extra time and drive cautiously. Also - be sure to keep the pets inside given the combination of bitter cold and strong winds.
We will be keeping this blog updated to help you stay safe and make the best decisions with regards to your holiday travel.
WINTER TIPS: Check out severe weather tips on WNEP’s YouTube channel.
