Major winter storm headed for Centre County. How much snow is currently expected?
A snowstorm stretching from New Mexico to Maine is expected to hit Centre County this weekend and likely to bring the area’s most significant snowfall in half a decade.
Forecasts from AccuWeather and the National Weather Service predict the storm will come in from the west starting late Saturday, Jan. 24, or early Sunday, Jan. 25, hitting Philipsburg before dropping between 4 and 16 inches of snow from the Mountaintop Region to the State College-area lowlands throughout Sunday and early Monday, Jan. 26.
Thursday, the NWS issued a winter storm watch for 10 p.m. Saturday through 1 p.m. Monday.
“We’ve gained a tremendous amount of confidence to know that, yes, the storm is coming and yes, it is going to snow,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bob Larson said. He noted timing and precise snowfall predictions would come more into focus in the coming days.
The last time Centre County saw a foot of snow in one day was December 2020, when a record 15 inches fell Dec. 17 during what was an otherwise tame winter. The county has seen more than 4 inches of snow in a day — the lower end of what is expected this weekend — just a handful of times since, most recently in January 2025.
The record for snowfall in State College Jan. 25 is 8.5 inches. That storm came in 1948, the year Harry Truman was elected to his only full term as president.
This weekend’s storm is likely to bring travel disruptions and delays, especially if it goes into Monday as expected. Area schools were delayed Thursday morning after just 1.5 inches of snow fell overnight.
“You can surmise that there will be the very least delays, if not closures, when it comes to schools, depending on exactly how long it does last,” Larson said. He noted Penn State has been known to postpone classes due to a couple of inches of snow.
Larson expects the storm will bring “lightweight, fluffy snow” to the area due to cold temperatures, meaning shoveling and clearing off car roofs as required by law will be easier than during warmer snowstorms.
While snowstorms of this magnitude are uncommon in central Pennsylvania, this weekend’s would not necessarily be an outlier. The most dangerous conditions are expected in the South, where ice could bring widespread power outages and treacherous driving conditions. Such conditions are not expected in Centre County as of Thursday.
