CoralRed

Wunderground just more than doubled the rain they were calling for tonight for Williamsport. I rechecked the hourly too. For 6pm it went from maybe .014 before to .33! I will be walking to the library shortly and the computers go off around 5:40. I will have to monitor things while I am there to make sure I get out and make it home before the deluge comes. I am bad about pushing myself out and have gotten wet before. Today I have to be good though or boy will I be sorry! Update 10 minutes later: I double checked again and now they are back down to .12 for 6:00p and much lower total. So who knows what will happen?

I was surprised to hear rain so I checked wunderground.com for Williamsport. At the top of the page it said 39 rain and snow. The local radar showed a mix of blue for snow and green. I didn't believe the snow part so I went on the porch and saw no signs of snow. I can't be certain but I think this is really the last time I will see the word snow mentioned on my local weather page until next fall and I think our snow this morning was limited to the "snow" that appeared on the wunderground website.

5:10A in Williamsport. I didn't think I would see any snow after all but a light snow with big wet flakes is coming down. Temperature is 36 at Montoursville Airport. 5:25A That was quick. Radar shows the big green blob that's been over us for awhile is now moving east so the snow is almost over. The flakes are much smaller. I guess this will be the last snow I see this year. I should have gone to bed before but I am glad I saw it.

Hope you get it back soon and don't have to throw out any food. We and some others had their power out in Williamsport for something like 14 hours a couple of years ago and we didn't like it at all! I am not sure where all the flashlights are or if the batteries are any good. I should probably look tomorrow. It is so easy to take heat and power for granted and I do.

Bubbler86, Hi. Thanks for responding to my post. I hate to tell you but you didn't say what you intended to say, I am sure. Go reread it and correct it.

The 8:02 update of the Area Forecast Discussion for Williamsport says: Models hint at a potential ugly start to March, but that could change by then. What's ugly about them?

Not on radar but we are getting light snow in Williamsport. The flakes are bigger now than 5 minutes ago.

Here in Williamsport there is a coating of snow over everything now. The small flakes are coming down fast but not heavy.

From the 10:30PM area forecast discussion for Williamsport: Strong llvl northerly ageostrophic flow and a howling 70-80 kt southerly jet several KFT AGL will maintain the perfect setup for a significant ice storm across the entire region between I-78/81 and the RT220/I-80 corridor. Expect between 3-6 tenths of an inch of ice by daybreak, which will undoubtedly cause down numerous trees and some power outages, from limbs falling on utility lines. This degree of ice equates to at least a 1 in 10-15 year ice storm here in Central PA, considering it`s widespread nature and pure freezing rain (with little or no sleet and snow at the onset or tail end)

Well of course here in Williamsport we are not going to get over half an inch of plain rain overnight as I wrote earlier. We will be in the mid 30s tomorrow instead of the lower 40s as predicted earlier. I am hoping I will be able to shovel tomorrow without icing stopping me. If not we don't get out of the 30s until next Monday. And of course in the meantime we will get more snow on Thursday. I just hope I am not stuck with an ice rink. Rest Of Tonight Snow likely this evening. Freezing rain and sleet. Total snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. Additional ice accumulation of one quarter to one half of an inch. Lows in the mid 20s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent. Tuesday Cloudy. A chance of freezing rain and sleet in the morning. Little or no additional sleet accumulation. Highs in the mid 30s. South winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming west 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

I was just looking at the newest update for Williamsport. After midnight the temperature will be 33-34 all night and we are supposed to get over half an inch of plain rain. I sure hope that's right and none of it is freezing rain. This is not what I was expecting but I guess many here are thinking that. Our James V. Brown Library here closes early or all day over very little snow but today they were closed all day over nothing.

So many days and nights are supposed to have snow in the 7 day forecast for Williamsport. But it seems that each day or night will only have a little bit. Sort of a unusual forecast for us.

I am back to post another comment about the murder-suicide in Plains Township. Much to my surprise, the popular UK news website the Daily Mail has a second article about it today. I see that yesterday's article got almost 3,000 comments. I guess this story struck a nerve. I won't include any quotes today; those of you who are interested can go to the linked articles yourself and those who are not don't want to read more about it. Yesterday's article at the Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9223991/Couple-killed-row-shoveling-dumping-snow-neighbors-yard.html Today's article at the Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9228805/Pennsylvania-couple-shot-dead-neighbor-snow-argument.html

This seems like a good place to post what I hope will be my last post -- for now -- on the Plains Township murder-suicide. Today's update is that it made the UK's highly popular Daily Mail website. They have pictures and some video over there and say they didn't put up more video because it was too graphic. Their story has additional details. It disagrees with an earlier account I described here that said Spaide killed the Goys with his pistol but used a rifle to shot them with still more bullets. It is so unbelievable and this wasn't a one time clash, it was an ongoing dispute. The Goys have an autistic son. If Spaide has any insurance or assets there could be a wrongful death civil suit so this might not be the end of this. "Surveillance video from the scene shows the Goys yelling at Spaide and calling him a 'mother******' and a 'p****.' Spaide goes back into his house as the Goys continue cursing at him. In the video, James is heard yelling at the neighbor 'I'll knock your a** out' and 'I'll make your life a living hell.' Moments later, Spaide emerges from his residence holding a pistol, but the Goys carry on with the verbal abuse and seemingly challenge him to shoot, with Lisa yelling, 'Go ahead! Go ahead!' James and Lisa initially do not react and remain standing as Spaide opens fire on them. He squeezes off multiple rounds from close range, striking both victims and causing them to collapse to the snow-covered ground. The gunman then goes back into his house to get an AR-15-style rifle, which he uses to shoot his neighbors again, killing both in the middle of the street." https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9223991/Couple-killed-row-shoveling-dumping-snow-neighbors-yard.html

I wanted to follow up about a story that I wrote about in the storm post. Last night Channel 16 said that the couple that was murdered in the Plains Township murder-suicide dumped their snow on the property of the man who killed them. Evidently that man killed them in the street with a pistol and then went inside his house, brought out a rifle and shot them again. All of this was not mentioned in some of the media stories and I thought people should know. I mentioned that the couple had a special needs 15 year old. The special needs is autism. To think all this occurred to neighbors who live across the street from each other -- not in the same building or next door to each other -- is beyond my comprehension. I still wonder if mental illness was involved but since they are all dead and there will be no trials, I doubt we will ever know. In looking for a link to last night's story which I did not find, I found a report of another snow incident. This one involved a knife and a baseball bat but luckily no one was hurt. I have never heard about violence and snow before. I hope that having two incidents so close together in the Channel 16 viewing area doesn't mean this is a new trend. https://www.wnep.com/mobile/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/another-fight-erupts-over-snow-shoveling/523-c74ffc0f-5483-43f1-989e-353b511db0ac Update: According to an ABC News story at Yahoo, the murdered couple continued to yell at their across the street neighbor even after he had a pistol. Unbelievable. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/3-pennsylvania-neighbors-dead-fight-224921402.html

Big luscious flakes just the way I like them flowing down from the sky in Williamsport. I wish I had seen a lot more like them earlier this week and during the big storm in December.

Getting back to current weather, Channel 16 said on the 11 o'clock news that we would get 6 more inches here in Williamsport. That surprised me. Let's see if we get it.

Here is more. It is not nice. I wonder who started it all and whether mental illness was involved. Plains Township Police Sgt Michael Smith told The Citizens Voice that Spaide, who lived alone, came outside with a handgun and shot the Goys, then went back inside and brought out an AR-15 style rifle. ‘He retrieved the rifle and shot them again,’ Smith said. Both James & Lisa Goy were fired at an additional two times. When officers went to his house to arrest him, Smith said, ‘Spaide shot himself.’ [...] Apparently there’s been an ongoing dispute between neighbors, some of which involved a dispute about snow disposal and removal,’ District Attorney Sanguedolce told the Citizens Voice. ‘They’re across the street from each other, and when they would remove snow they would throw it across the street at the other person’s property.’ https://scallywagandvagabond.com/2021/02/plains-township-murder-suicide-snow-shoveling-dispute-leaves-three-dead/

Plains Township is in Northeastern PA and I am in North Central PA. I don't know what they do over there. The news report said the neighbor was across the street so the argument may have been about parking spaces and not shovelling sidewalks. I just don't know.

"The Plains Township police chief says they believe this followed an argument between neighbors over shoveling snow from the storm. "The bodies of the two victims of the gunfire from the shooter were both outside. One is the middle of the street; one is between two parked cars. That is a husband and wife. There is the person believed to be the victim the suicide victim who is the aggressor and shooter is in one of their residences, his own residence," Sanguedolce said." https://www.wnep.com/mobile/article/news/local/luzerne-county/plains-township-double-murder-suicide-snow-shoveling/523-87e8249a-8c8c-4cd2-9a39-ce625c8ff94c

No joke. They just repeated before going to commercial: three people dead and snow. Story coming up. Amazing they didn't start with the deaths but with weather stories around the area. It was a murder-suicide involving a couple and their neighbor. It happened about 9:00 this morning. The couple had a 15 year old special needs child. They mentioned shovelling but were not more specific.

Channel 16 is the ABC station in Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.

I am not making this up: Channel 16 news commercial just said 3 dead over a dispute -- about snow. I cannot believe I just typed this. I wish I heard it wrong.

I just looked out the door in Williamsport. Little to nothing going on. Is that band going to come our way or will it stay right to our south?

Remembering a drop in temperatures was coming up, I looked at the hourlies for next Sunday and Monday. The high on Monday won't come out of the teens here in Williamsport and winds will be in the teens too. The idea of being out shoveling in those conditions is not appealing. Wunderground is calling for just 3.3" but who knows how much we will end up getting? Life was better and easier when I wasn't the official shoveler.