Centre County schools announce early dismissals due to predicted winter weather
11:30 a.m. Monday update: In anticipation of the winter weather, Centre County schools have announced early dismissals. Bellefonte Area School District will dismiss high school and middle school students at 12:45 p.m. and elementary students at 1:45 p.m. All Bald Eagle Area students will be dismissed at 1 p.m., with all after-school activities canceled. State College Area School District, which has an in-service day Monday, canceled all after-school activities and announced the CEEL program will close at 4 p.m.
Centre County is under a winter weather advisory that takes effect at 2 p.m. Monday.
The day will start out sunny, but conditions are expected to deteriorate throughout the afternoon.
The National Weather Service is forecasting mixed precipitation across central Pennsylvania with snow and ice. Winds could gust up to 35 mph overnight into Tuesday on the ridges west of Interstate 99, the NWS said.
Precipitation will be the heaviest Monday evening and snow totals could be greater (2-3 inches) in higher-terrain areas north and east of State College, the weather service says.
Drivers can expect slippery roads during the Monday evening commute.
The NWS expects rain and sleet in State College mostly after 1 p.m. Monday, with an accumulation of less than half an inch of sleet. Temperatures will reach a high near 36. The rain and sleet will continue overnight until about 4 a.m. Tuesday. At that point, there will be a chance of rain until 1 p.m. and then skies will become mostly sunny. The high temperature will approach 46 degrees.
The winter weather advisory expires at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
The forecast for the rest of the week includes plenty of precipitation. Wednesday will be partly sunny with a high near 52, but the rain will return Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Rain, snow and freezing rain are in store overnight Thursday into Friday and continuing through Friday night.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 8:18 AM.