Heavy precipitation cuts power, cancels events

Nick Malawskey

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

It’s official. According to the National Weather Service in State College, the earliest local snowfall in recorded history has a new mark — Oct. 15, 2009.

The previous record for an early snowfall was Oct. 18, 1901.

CDT photos/Christopher Weddle

Students walk past a tree still covered in its fall leaves as snow falls at University Park on Thursday. It was the region’s earliest recorded snowfall since recordkeeping began more than 100 years ago. The previous record for an early snowfall was Oct. 18, 1901.

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“We talked to the official weather station on the Penn State campus ... and they reported three-tenths of an inch already,” weather service meteorologist Aaron Tyburski said early Thursday afternoon. “To get this kind of snow — during daytime hours, this early in the year — is historic. I don’t know any other word for it.”

Across Centre County what began as an early-morning rain changed to a steady snow and, by late afternoon, had covered much of the county’s houses and fields.

The early snow caused a few headaches throughout the region, with minor power outages reported throughout the day in Julian, Pennsylvania Furnace and the State College area.

Doug Colafella, with Allegheny Power, said the outages had, as of Thursday afternoon, been small-scale, localized problems — nothing on the scale of October 2005, when another early snow caused the company its largest outage on record.

“We don’t take these storms too lightly,” he said. “We’ll be monitoring the weather and will have our crews prepared.”

The snow prompted two school districts — Penns Valley and Bellefonte — to postpone homecoming parades scheduled for Thursday evening. And the cold that produced the snow caused the Paternoville Coordination Committee to shut down Paternoville by 6 p.m. Thursday.

At Paternoville, senior Wed Brogden said the decision was disappointing, but understandable. Temperatures were expected to dip throughout the evening.

Brogden was busy taking down a tent in the quickly falling snow with two of his friends. He said it would have been his first weekend at the camp.

Although students who had registered at the site will still receive front-row tickets to Saturday’s game, “you don’t get that camping experience,” he said.

Elsewhere, PennDOT and municipal road crews were keeping an eye on the changing conditions.

On Seven Mountains, PennDOT maintenance vehicles were working throughout the day, spreading anti-skid material on U.S. Route 322.

“We started this morning at 7 (a.m.) so they’ve been out there a good part of the day,” said Dave Yoder, assistant maintenance manager for PennDOT in Mifflin County. “No problems so far.”

No problems either for Penn State’s homecoming events, scheduled for this evening, organizers said.

“The (homecoming) parade is definitely good to go, rain, snow or shine,” said Anna Sofio, homecoming public relations director.

However, the pep rally scheduled for this evening has been moved indoors to Alumni Hall, she said.

Both today and Saturday are expected to bring more rain and snow into the region, said Andy Mussoline, a meteorologist at AccuWeather.com, although Thursday was expected to see the largest accumulation of snow.

“Both tomorrow and into Saturday we expect periods of rain and snow, both days,” Mussoline said. “It is possible Friday night into Saturday more snowfall accumulations will be possible.”

As for Saturday’s game? “I would suggest rain gear and some boots,” said Mussoline. “We expect occasional snow and rain throughout the day with a high around 36 degrees.”

So, with Penn State’s homecoming weekend moving full steam ahead, there is the possibility a “whiteout” for Saturday’s game will not be entirely man-made.

“It will be a winter wonderland homecoming,” Sofio said with a laugh.

Nick Malawskey can be reached at 235-3928.