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Central PA thread


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I do agree that maybe the advisories back past Bradford were probably a bit much, I reflected as much with my snowmap keeping them in the 1-3 range. But I expected you to see at least some low end advisory totals and it didn't work out too well. Never expected you guys up there to be into the heavier bands but I figured there would be less problems accumulating at lighter rates. Clearfield county did have a 6 inch report in Madera, so technically the warning in that county verified..although sometimes I think that county might better be served being divided in some fashion. My 6 inch line was basically representing where i figured the edge of the heavy bands would go, and it worked out fairly well in the south central, but not in ne PA. Hazelton you only got an inch?? Ugh. These east faders to the benchmark are a pain.

The think is MAG McKean, Potter, Tioga, western parts of Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming counties rarely do well with any Nor'Easter which was my point. I agree, I think Clearfield should be diagonally cut for warnings and advisories. I also think Tioga should be diagonally cut. I'm all for the NWS to start partioning counties for warnings like they do severe weather and tornados. The QPF amounts always struggle in these counties, but it especially hurt because rates weren't high enough in these areas to even reach low end amounts. It should be interesting to see how the rest of the area did well with QPF amounts as a whole. I didn't reach my .25-.50" amount though. You guys do a great job on here, and I don't want you guys to feel under appreciated. I was just stating the counties listed are poor for Nor' Easters climatologically speaking and it is even worse when the LP slides to the benchmark.

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Well, hello to all my friends in the central pa forum!

Sorry for not chiming in earlier. I spent the day fb-chatting with Zak (EasternUsWx) as the storm progressed. He's only 15 miles sw of me so it was nice to know what was coming my way. Now that I've read most of the posts I can agree with those near Hbg that the heaviest intensity with the biggest flakes occurred around 3pm. It looked awesome out there at that point. I shot some great video capturing the intensity. I am glad to see that my storm total of 6.0" matches up very well with many others in Cumberland / Dauphin region.

In summary it snowed heavily almost continuously from just before 11am until a little after 4pm, at about 1" per hour rate on average. My temperature dropped rapidly once the snow changeover occurred around 9:30am---from 35 degrees down to 32.4 degrees, where it remained until right before it ended. I know my board suffered from compaction because I did not clear it. My guess is that I probably received 7", but it doesn't matter. ANY winter storm that delivers accumulations of six or more inches is a big winner in my book!

It is difficult to keep in perspective the historical nature of this event, given all of the other meteorological extreme events we have witnessed in 2011. In Harrisburg with each additional 0.01" of liquid we set a new annual precipitation record. We still have two more months of records to set. In this part of the country, 60"+ annual precip totals are very rare. We're on our way to 65" or more. And, to think, just 14 weeks ago I hit 104 degrees for the hottest temperature I have ever recorded! Throw in not one, but two months--April and September--that had over 10" of precipitation, well, I don't know what else to say about this amazing year of weather---and I've lived through 52 of them so far.

Thanks so much to all the mets who now inhabit our subgroup. We are truly blessed to have such a wealth of weather expertise being shared with all of us. I look forward to reading lots more in the weeks and months ahead as we descend into wintertime.

Catch you all later....

---Stephen

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precip totals since midnight were pretty close to average qpf from the models... some slightly lower, some slightly higher... lancaster/reading missed out on the heavy band that hit york/harrisburg and northwest of here between noon and 2...

Allentown - 1.10"

Altoona - .61"

Avoca - .58"

Bradford - .17"

Clearfield - .38"

Harrisburg - 1.38"

Johnstown - .63"

Lancaster - .80"

Philly - 1.30"

Pittsburgh .31"

Reading - .85"

Williamsport - .54"

York - 1.40"

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As said before, thanks to the pro help here. I think they got it right. I ended up with 6" in geneal. the part of melting i was curious about happed in the rear toward the woods. I have 6 plus in the front, southern exposures and less the an inch in the back at the woods. some bare spots and even mud. The trees did take the brunt of it. lots came down and lost power for a while. Also the roads got covereed much earlier then i imaged. . So all in all an interesting storm.

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I'll third the thanks.

I'll also add that it's great to have a forum filled with wx enthusiasts (and professionals) from the region.

Although interested in meteorology since hugo hit sc (I was 5 years old, glued to TWC for hours when it happened), and previously enrolled in MU's program, I chose an engineering field instead and transferred to PSU. Weather is still a passion of mine, but I have a lot to learn. I feel like there is a wealth of knowledge here, and I'm planning on being a knowledge sponge...

Looking forward to the next one!

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I hear ya and and agree, this was a bust from a Tioga-Potter county west area. But, just to get any snow flakes in the air before mid November is a plus in my opinion. On the valley floor here today, snow did not stick at all, it did snow lightly all day. Currently there is about 1/2 inch coating the ground here after sundown. I did take a ride on 4-wheeler just before sunset to about 2200 feet elevation behind my house and there was about 2 inches on the ground. Thursday night the same elevation had about 4 inches. I have pics but could not get them to load. For us in this area to get epic snowfall such as the 93 Superstorm or the March 94 storm that dumped 30 inches here, the storm has to be an excessively powerful one and track from the Virginia area straight north through New Jersey, right up the Hudson Valley. In our epic snowfall years around here, usually State College, Williamsport, and the Binghamton areas are in the rain or mixing. Hell, just to be able to talk about snow this early is great. Yea, I would have liked to have seen the 5- 10 that was forcasted today but it didn't happen. One thing I like around here is once the winter does set in, the nickel and dime events usually don't melt away in a day and they just keep piling up. We have alot to look forward to, the lakes are loaded waiting for the cold air. A Huron-Erie connection has given us here a foot of powder many times in the past. Lake cutters give us 6 inches before turning to sleet then rain to give us a crusty base. The 1-3 3-6 clippers, all add up. As far as Nor-easters go, the Hudson Valley is our "benchmark" and I hope to see one soon, of couse after our early Nov. mild spell.Snowman.gif

Yes they do, but northwestern and western counties in PA don't do well (ie the counties I mentioned) in Nor' Easters because the high QPF amounts never make it back that far unless they have enough of an expansive comma head like 93' 67' and other rare producing Nor' Easters for the locations I mentioned. CTP should always err on the side of caution for the counties I mentioned because it goes against typical climo for Nor' Easters. That is one reason Williamsport, Lock Haven, Renovo area is such a crappy place to live if you love winter, because you don't get alot of Lake Effect and you miss the majority of Nor Easters. It especially gets worse the deeper you go into winter because storms are more likely to hit the bench mark instead of close to the tight land/water gradient earlier in winter. You have to rely on inland runners or really close LP huggers and climatologically speaking doesn't happen very often or enjoy nickle and dime events from the Ohio Valley lows. If you truely want to experience an epic coastal storm the counties I mentioned will rarely see it. End of CTP rant. Great historic storm everyone!! enjoy it cause November looks torch esque in my opinion but we will see :snowman:

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It's wild how fast it's melting, walking outside sounds like it's raining because all the melting.

There appears to have been a pretty tight gradient in from Hershey to Enola - sauss confirmed earlier he had nothing until this afternoon while here in midtown we had a few inches already and Hershey too. Apparently once again the river dissected the snow line again (that's been happening the past two winters most often).

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I hear ya and and agree, this was a bust from a Tioga-Potter county west area. But, just to get any snow flakes in the air before mid November is a plus in my opinion. On the valley floor here today, snow did not stick at all, it did snow lightly all day. Currently there is about 1/2 inch coating the ground here after sundown. I did take a ride on 4-wheeler just before sunset to about 2200 feet elevation behind my house and there was about 2 inches on the ground. Thursday night the same elevation had about 4 inches. I have pics but could not get them to load. For us in this area to get epic snowfall such as the 93 Superstorm or the March 94 storm that dumped 30 inches here, the storm has to be an excessively powerful one and track from the Virginia area straight north through New Jersey, right up the Hudson Valley. In our epic snowfall years around here, usually State College, Williamsport, and the Binghamton areas are in the rain or mixing. Hell, just to be able to talk about snow this early is great. Yea, I would have liked to have seen the 5- 10 that was forcasted today but it didn't happen. One thing I like around here is once the winter does set in, the nickel and dime events usually don't melt away in a day and they just keep piling up. We have alot to look forward to, the lakes are loaded waiting for the cold air. A Huron-Erie connection has given us here a foot of powder many times in the past. Lake cutters give us 6 inches before turning to sleet then rain to give us a crusty base. The 1-3 3-6 clippers, all add up. As far as Nor-easters go, the Hudson Valley is our "benchmark" and I hope to see one soon, of couse after our early Nov. mild spell.Snowman.gif

I agree with this post 100% . The storm was historic none the less and glad our fellow board members were able to cash in. Lol it's funny that it literally takes a hudson valley track to be our benchmark but it is true! The sad thing is climatologically speaking odds aren't in our favor. It is almost equivalent to a hurricane striking directly into Connecticut or Mass they don't happen very often. The low pressure systems almost always follow the thermal gradient of the relatively cold landmass and warm Atlantic gulf stream. It takes an awesome atmospheric setup to get the LP to track straight up the hudson valley. Thank goodness our area has elevation on its side so that the nickel and dime events do add up and that is the main reason this area does so well as a winter overall. Yes the Huron-Erie connection is something special to witness but I haven't seen it happen in sometime. It also takes a perfect wind connection off the lakes to deposit the lake effect snow so far east. The thing is the 93 superstorm didn't take the benchmark we need to be beneficial but it was so massive and strong it threw snow way back towards the west it didn't matter where it tracked. I'm really not a complainer, I just say it like it is but just wish CTP would stop giving warnings but rather advisories (in normal winter Nor' Easters storms) for the counties I said earlier, they just aren't favorable for a true Nor' Easters, especially one that slides to the benchmark like this storm ended up doing.

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looks like the back rail helps stack the snow up a little higher. a snow board would be a great investment.

I agree. I have used a boogie board about 25 feet away from the house in the past. The measurement is based not on the rail but the table. The roll is 11 inches and as of last check after the snow ended we were right near the 9 inch mark on the table alone. There has been a great deal of compaction all day with the weight of the snow, it is like paste. I have measurement from Manchester, MD of 8 inches and areas near Dallastown of close to 9. From my southwest to northeast the 8-9 mark seems fairly consistent with elevation. It seems that anyone from 800 ft plus did well, My gps places my top of the driveway at just over 1000 ft, while goggle earth has me at 973. To my southwest in Shrewsbury township there are areas that are above 1050. Elevation, lack of a water body, and heavy woods seem to work out well especially in this set-up.

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Got down to 25.7, was walking the dog after getting back from a Halloween Party and it was strange last night, the crunch of snow underfoot and the cold - felt like a winter's night.

The other thing that was really strange our friend's house was decorated for Halloween and dark, so you could see outside. The juxtaposition of Halloween decorations and people in costume with four inches of snow on the ground outside was quite strange.

Final snow accumulations: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=PA&prodtype=public#PNSCTP

AP story: http://news.yahoo.com/snow-smacks-northeast-power-could-days-122810201.html

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Looks and feels more like a mid-winter morning outside. By the way, if you thought the impressive storm totals in PA were ridiculous enough some parts of interior New England literally doubled our higher end amounts and then some (>2 feet in some cases). Amazing pics starting to come into those threads over in that subforum. Chalk up yet another record shattering winter storm for the Northeast.

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7" here atop Blue Mtn on the east side of the Suskie. Many limbs down. Lost power from 13h hrs until sometime wee a.m. hours (nice job PPL - got us up quick this time) Thank God no fierce winds or it would have been worse. THUNDERSNOW was awesome around 13-14h hrs. Just missed some deeper bands to my west and east. Still - historic. :thumbsup::snowwindow::mapsnow:

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