‘Potent’ winter storm breaks records in Centre County. Here’s how much snow it brought
Centre County was overwhelmed Wednesday by more than a foot of record-breaking snow.
State College was engulfed by 15 inches of snow, which broke the 24-hour December snowfall record by 2.5 inches. The previous record of 12.5 inches was set Dec. 11, 1992.
More snow fell Wednesday than the entire 2019-20 winter season, when a record-low 13.2 inches fell. Weather records date back to 1893.
The total was also nearly double State College’s average December snowfall amount of 7.8 inches, according to National Weather Service data. The borough averaged 45.6 inches of snow annually since 1980-81.
“This storm intensified pretty quickly,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines said Thursday. “The combination of the intensifying storm, a lot of moisture and cold air in place was the recipe for a significant snowfall.”
Zion received 16.4 inches of snow, the most in Centre County. The unincorporated community in Walker Township was followed by Port Matilda (16 inches), Bellefonte and Unionville (15 inches) and Boalsburg (13.9 inches).
The nor’easter dumped about 2-4 inches per hour at its peak, a rate that National Weather Service State College lead meteorologist Greg DeVoir said is “outrageous.”
Sleet and rain was absent from the storm, which contributed to the eye-catching totals.
“This was a potent storm,” DeVoir said. “We kept alluding to the snowfall rates as being critical both for snow removal and travel because it doesn’t take long with those rate to completely halt safe transportation.”
The snowstorm was the largest in Centre County since February 2003 and the first double-digit snowfall since November 2018.
“Storms of this magnitude are pretty rare for State College and central Pennsylvania,” Penn State assistant teaching professor of meteorology and atmospheric science Steve Seman said.
No other major snowstorms are in the short-term forecast. High temperatures through Dec. 25 are expected to be in the mid-30s or low 40s, meaning there is a good chance that snow is on the ground for Christmas.
“It’s gonna be hard to get rid of this by Christmas,” Kines said. “That will make Santa happy.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 12:10 PM.