Centre County residents take advantage of winter storm

It was a snow heaven for some local kids Saturday who finally had the chance to play in the snow.

A small hill at Community Fields, adjacent the State College Area High School tennis courts, was filled with kids — and adults — taking advantage of Mother Nature’s fury.

It was the first time this season people were able to play in a considerable amount of snow.

The first measurable snowfall came earlier in the month, which National Weather Service at State College meteorologist Joe Ceru said produced about a half an inch of snow — too little to go sledding anywhere other than local ski resorts that had been making snow.

The National Weather Service in State College originally predicted there would be about 4 to 6 inches of snow overnight Friday and into Saturday.

But as the storm progressed, NWS upgraded it to 6 to 8 inches, Ceru said.

“We had been monitoring it, and got about what we expected,” Ceru said.

A storm the National Weather Service called “Jonas” dumped several inches of snow in Mid-Atlantic areas south and east of Centre County.

But that’s not to say the area was immune to the snowfall.

And with it came a chance for locals to find some fun in it.

“We’ve been really lucky with the winter we’ve had so far,” said State College resident Joe DuVall. “Me and my wife have been loving it, but the kids have been wanting to play in snow. We kept reminding them ‘it would come,’ and it finally did.”

DuVall’s sons, Cooper and Evan, headed to Community Fields down the street from their house and brought sleds and snowboards.

By about 11 a.m., the brothers had sledded so much, they wore the snow down to the grass in two spots.

Cooper, 8, said when green started sprouting through the power, he and his brother would just find a new patch of snow to sled down.

“I feel like it’s been so long since we could play in the snow,” Cooper said. “We play a lot of video games, but got some neighbors to come out today.”

The DuValls provided their friends with sleds. Evan, 10, even brought a snowboard to do small hill shredding.

“I haven’t been to Tussey (Mountain) yet, so this is good preparation,” he said.

Ceru said the Centre Region got 5 to 8 inches of snow overnight, with about another inch during the day Saturday.

A winter storm warning and a winter weather advisory were issued for two parts of Centre County but were lifted at 4 p.m.

By noon, parts of the borough got 4 to 6 inches of snow. Boalsburg got 7.3 inches, Lemont had 5.5 inches, and 6 inches of snow were recorded at Penn State, Ceru said.

Ceru added that Pleasant Gap got 3.8 inches and Bellefonte got 3 inches of snow.

The farther north in the county, the less snow was produced. The farther south, the more snow, Ceru said.

Ceru said the stormed rolled in from the south primarily hitting the southern and eastern parts of Pennsylvania.

“Centre County was right on the edge (of the storm),” Ceru said.

It caused the Transfer Station at the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority to close at noon due to “inclement weather,” according to spokeswoman Amy Schirf.

Centre Region municipalities also issued a snow emergency, which urged drivers not to leave vehicles parked on the street so snow maintenance could clear the roads.

All flights to and from University Park Airport to Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. were canceled. Flights through University Park Airport did, however, continue to and from Columbus, Ohio, Buffalo, N.Y., and Champaign/Urbana, Ill.

Ceru said the January snowfall average is 12.5 inches — higher than totals so far for this year.

According to the NWS, Sunday will see partly sunny skies with highs at about 32 degrees and lows in the mid-teens.

“It will be a more pleasurable day, and people can really go out and enjoy the snow,” Ceru said.

He added that the winter storm is expected to head off the coast Sunday.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Centre County residents take advantage of winter storm."