Snow is finally on the way to central PA. See forecast and how it could affect travel
At long last, snow is in the forecast for Centre County this weekend.
According to AccuWeather’s online forecast, snow is expected to begin around 3 p.m. Saturday and continue through Sunday evening. The State College area should receive somewhere between 4 and 8 inches of snow over the weekend, but the total amount of precipitation largely depends on the path the storm takes when it moves across the commonwealth this weekend.
“While there’s probably still snow falling Sunday, I think the accumulating snow is coming Saturday afternoon and night,” said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “It looks we’ll get a few inches of snow [in State College]. If the storm happens to take a track a little bit farther north, it’s not out of the question we could see 6 or more inches of snow.”
The National Weather Service’s State College office issued Friday a winter storm warning for much of central and southern Pennsylvania. The notice calls for roughly 4 to 8 inches of snow between Saturday and Sunday morning, likely compromising road conditions and visibility. The heaviest snow is expected Saturday evening.
Kines said Wednesday the storm is not expected to produce much ice in Centre County, but ice accumulation could become a larger factor in the southeastern part of the state. Still, it may pose problems for those who plan on traveling.
“I guess the good news for those who need to shovel it is that this should be a dry snow, so it should be very easy to move around,” Kines said. “On the other side of the coin, I suspect the roads will get pretty slippery around here later Saturday and into Saturday night.”
Travel might become hazardous for those who need to drive to and from Centre County, Kines said. This could significantly affect the plans of Penn State students and their families, who are expected to return to State College in droves this weekend before the spring semester starts Jan. 8.
“If you have to drive and want to avoid the snow, the earlier in the day you can get out, the better,” Kines said. “Those traveling long distances from Harrisburg or wherever... it’s going to be snowing down there, too. For a lot of us, we haven’t had to deal with snowy weather traveling-wise in a long time. Take it easy out there later Saturday and Saturday night.”
Has it snowed much so far in Pennsylvania this winter?
So far, snow has been hard to come by in the 2023-24 winter season.
The State College area has observed roughly 0.7 inches of measurable snowfall so far this season, according to the National Weather Service’s online archives. A “normal” season typically produces about 10.6 inches of measurable snowfall up to this point in the season.
No season saw more snow between early November and early January than the 1995-96 season, which observed approximately 41.1 inches of measurable snowfall in State College. The 2015-16 winter season set a record low for the roughly two-month span in State College with no measurable snowfall.
State College has recorded an average of 45.9 inches of snow each season since 1893, when NWS data for the area begins. That figure has lowered in recent decades, dropping State College’s annual snowfall to about 43.8 inches per season between 1991 and 2020.
El Niño, a notable climate pattern that can significantly affect weather by altering jet streams and climate systems, is expected to continue through at least the early winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. Much of the U.S., including Pennsylvania, can expect a warmer, drier winter with above-normal temperatures.
In November, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bob Smerbeck told the Centre Daily Times the agency expects a milder winter for central Pennsylvania compared to average.
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 1:26 PM.
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