Centre County Digs Out from Record-Breaking Snowfall

Shovels, snowblowers and plows were common sights around Centre County on Thursday morning after a nor’easter dumped more than a foot of snow on most of the region.

State College’s official total came in at 15 inches, as measured at Penn State’s Walker Building following a storm that began early Wednesday afternoon and pounded the area into the night. That set a new December record for State College, eclipsing the 12.5 inches recorded on Dec. 11, 1992.

Centre County’s largest snow storm since 2003, Wednesday’s storm surpassed the total snowfall for all of the 2019-20 winter season, when a record-low 13.2 inches fell.

‘It was a large storm for this time of year,’ Paul Walker, AccuWeather senior meteorologist said. ‘There were reports of 12 to 16 inches across Centre County. That’s a big storm for any time of the year but for December, it’s something we haven’t seen recently.’

According to the National Weather Service at State College, Zion had the county’s highest total with 16.4 inches, followed by 16 in Port Matilda.

At the storm’s peak on Wednesday night, snow was falling at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour.

‘It doesn’t last for a full hour, but at the peak it came down at that type of intensity,’ Walker said.

Most of Centre County saw more than a foot of snow from Wednesday’s storm, including State College, which had a December record 15 inches. Photo by Ryan Jones.

It’s too soon to say whether the storm portends a difficult winter, but Walker said no other storms are on the immediate horizon.

Expect the snow that is on the ground, though, to be there for some time.

‘This snow’s going to stick around for awhile. We’re only looking at highs for the next couple of days to be in the low 30s at best,’ Walker said. ‘It’s going to be a cold day Saturday, only 34 for the high. By the second half of the weekend we’re going to get into the mid to upper 30s but we’re also going to continue to have very cold nights. So what does melt during the day can refreeze at night.’

He also cautioned that roads can get icy at night as snow melts and refreezes.

‘Any place the snow melts during the day and the road and bridge surfaces are wet, they’ll get icy at night because we are going to have some cold nights coming up,’ Walker said. ‘So watch out for the icy roads going into the morning hours.’