Up until a week ago, State College had it easy, with snowfall totals well below average.
That looks to change with a series of winter storms heading in our direction as part of a pattern that could continue for several weeks. And we’ll also be coping with another dip into the deep freeze.
The next storm is expected to hit town Thursday. “It looks as if there’ll be another one of these Alberta Clippers, the fast-moving storms that come out of Western Canada, says AccuWeather Senior Vice President Joe Sobel. “That will cross the area Thursday afternoon and on into Thursday night.”
Soebel says it won’t be a “biggie” but the storm could drop two or three inches on top of the snow that’s already on the ground.
State College got several inches of snow last Friday. A major storm dropped 6-8 inches on our area on Monday. With Thursday’s storm comes a cold hard fact: You’ll have to get used to it. “We’re developing a pretty significant snow cover thanks to one after the other after the other,” says Sobel.
“We are in a rollicking weather pattern now, and it looks like it’s going to be one that lasts at least another two to three weeks,” he predicts. “Every two to three days another weather system comes by that can produce some snow or some form of precipitation. We’ve got the possibility of another [storm] Sunday into Sunday night and then another one by the middle of next week.”
None of those storms look to be especially significant but there’s the possibility of at least a few inches of snow every few days.
State College has gotten about 23 inches of snow so far this winter. Typically, we get an average of 45 inches of snow over the course of a normal winter. So with winter about half over, we’re on track for an average year, but with that weather pattern setting up for a series of storms, who knows.
And then there’s the cold.
The forecast calls for temperatures to be near 10 degrees Thursday morning. Friday morning won’t be as cold but then it gets sharply colder Friday night. We’ll be back down to single digits, maybe near zero in some spots, and probably more of the same for Sunday morning.
And Sobel expects to see more single digit temperatures next week.
Did we mention the wind chill?
“Wind chills shouldn’t be too harsh until Friday afternoon or Friday night,” he says. “That will be the time the temperatures really plummet. It will be in the teens by Friday afternoon with the wind blowing 20 to 25 miles per hour. The wind chill factor will be well below zero by Friday evening and well below zero Friday night.”
If it all sounds like too much, Sobel recommends that you stay home with a hot toddy this weekend. “Pitchers and catchers report for spring training in three weeks,” he says, adding, “So at least there’s something good on the horizon.”
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