Monsoon's Snowbound In-Storm Observations
It’s still snowing heavily here in northern Lancaster County as of 4pm, and my very kind neighbor just made another pass with the snowblower.
We’ve got 16 inches of snow on the ground here and things won’t wrap up until at least 8 or 9pm. The low pressure looks to be stalling off the coast and prolonging the snowfall, so we may actually see widespread totals above 20 inches and even approaching two feet by the end of this event.
Other Pennsylvania storm totals as of mid-afternoon include Mohnton (16 inches), Lititz (17 inches), and Dover (20 inches). [Remember to send me your snow totals and I’ll share them on the weblog.]
Seasonal records for snowfall have been set all over the place. President Obama, who coined a new term (“Snowmageddon”) to describe this past weekend’s event, will have to come up with another one.
Conditions are bad out there, and will continue to deteriorate. Major highways (including 80, 81, 83, 78, and 76) have been closed due to poor road conditions and diminished visibility. The weight of the snow is a danger to those shoveling it; in addition there have been roof collapses and other structural damage reports in Delaware, where more than 50 inches of snow (!) have fallen in the past week.
Winds are also becoming a problem, with reports of 15-20mph winds and higher gusts in the immediate forecast area. Wind speed is expected to reach 20-25mph with gusts near 40mph throughout the evening—look for whiteout conditions, downed trees, and possible power outages.
As it stands, we’ve gotten a mind-boggling three feet of the stuff here in Adamstown since 2/5. Daaaaaamn…
Updated school cancellation/delay projections for tomorrow…
Chance of cancellation, Thursday 2/11/10: 85%.
Chance of delay, Thursday 2/11/10: 30%.
[When will we clean all this up? I don’t think two hours Thursday morning is going to cut it; a cancellation seems pretty likely.]
Wouldn’t it be nice if this storm marked the end of winter? I think even the most snow-rabid among us would admit to some fatigue with the stuff by now. (On a personal note, I love forecasting winter weather, especially with these big, dramatic storms and historic snow totals. But even I’m getting a little tired of this!)
And yet, there’s more.
Monday 2/15 to Tuesday 2/16: snow overnight Monday into Tuesday morning could disrupt school schedules and make travel treacherous once again. This is five days away so it’s difficult to make snowfall projections, but it appears this one will likely be in the range of 6-8 inches.
Saturday 2/20 to Sunday 2/21: another one is setting up for this period, but it is far too early to even take a stab at totals, etc.
No real warm-ups anytime soon, either—highs hovering around freezing for the foreseeable future—so these giant mounds will be with us for a while.
Stay tuned……