‘Significant winter storm’ will bring poor travel conditions to Centre County on Thursday
A winter storm on Thursday is expected to bring poor travel conditions to Centre County.
The National Weather Service at State College issued a winter storm watch from late Wednesday night through Friday morning. Dan DePodwin, director of forecast operations at AccuWeather, said a “significant winter storm” is expected across central Pennsylvania.
By the time the storm ends late Thursday night, three to six inches of a mix of snow and sleet is expected, DePodwin said.
Travel conditions will quickly deteriorate late Wednesday night, he said, and there will be very poor travel conditions on Thursday with snowy and slippery roads. That will continue into Thursday night. Travel conditions should improve by late Thursday night and early Friday morning.
He expects the storm to start with a “wintery mix,” a mixture of mostly snow and sleet, and possibly some freezing rain.
“It’s going to be a messy start of the day on Thursday,” DePodwin said.
During Thursday afternoon, he expects the precipitation to transition to all snow.
The storm comes as the semester wraps up for Penn State students, with people traveling to and from the region. It’s expected to impact the central and northern parts of Pennsylvania, so most of the storm in places like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh will just be rain. But DePodwin said those traveling to State College on Thursday from those areas will have some significantly poor — and in some cases, dangerous — conditions due to snow and ice on the roads.
“If you can alter your plans at all, if you’re traveling from one of those places to State College, it’s better to do it earlier on Wednesday, or to do it later in the week on Friday or Saturday,” DePodwin said.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 4:46 PM.
