SNOW SQUALLS IN NORTHERN PA

[WXBUFFJIM]

Good morning. The arctic front extends from Pittsburgh to Bradford, PA at this time. Along this front, strong winds and heavy snow squalls have been observed. Bradford is down to 1/4 mile visibility in heavy snow squalls and gusty winds up to near 35 mph. Youngstown, Ohio has light snow and wind gusts close to 30 mph. Temps both in Youngstown, Ohio and Bradford, Pennsylvania are below freezing at this point. This is the leading edge of the arctic cold airmass, the coldest in 20 years for New England. I 80 is not going to be a fun ride in north central PA with very heavy wind driven snow squalls for the next hour or two.

It's in the low 40s here in Essex near Baltimore, MD as of 9:30 am with partly sunny skies. We won't get above freezing for highs on Wednesday.

Jim

[WXBUFFJIM]

I'm quite concerned about interstate 80 because you heard on the news over the past week about that 50 vehicle pileup. 6 people dead in that on I 80 courtesy of snow squalls. This batch looks very similar to the last one and needs to be taken seriously. We're only talking in general about 15-20 minutes worth of very heavy snow. But visibility will be near zero and snow rates could be several inches per hour. So a quick 1-2 inches in 15 minutes can't be ruled out in this situation. On top of that wind gusts will exceed 35 mph creating whiteout conditions anyway.

Be careful in northern PA, southeast NY, and northern Jersey. If staying off the roads is your option of choice while these snow squalls pass, it's a good choice and maybe a life saving one too.

Jim

[JCT777]

Looks very impressive on radar, Jim. My area may even see some snow showers (and/or a snow squall) later today or this evening.

[Anonymous]

That's the price of living in the mountains folks.

If you live east of the mountains in VA, expect a few clouds, mostly times of clouds and sun. Not even flurries will get east of the mountains with this moisture-starved system. If you dislike multiple-car pileups courtesy of snow squalls, I'v got the perfect safe harbor for ya:

Northern Virginia. We won't see a flurry here, this is by far the safest place to be from frontal snow squalls. There is absolutely zero moisture over N VA.

So, come one and come all:) We'll enjoy partly cloudy skies today and tonight with a breeze

Edit: I've added a 40 percent CHC of rain, we might see a rain shower or two this afternoon, no snow expected here. It will be way too warm; highs will top out near 60 degrees. Get the suntan lotion and the dark glasses lol


-JEB

[rick-g]

THere was a massive 20 minute squall aroung 11:30 am today that left about an inch of snow and sleet. It had lighting and thunder too.