Central PA Spring 2023

[Bubbler86]

16 minutes ago, Voyager said:

Yeah, not everyone agrees on roofs and siding. The pitfalls of living in a half double.

The Hatfield's and the McCoys 2023. 

[Mount Joy Snowman]

2 hours ago, Itstrainingtime said:

 

 

My wife...

So, my earlier report from her was that we got "drops" - which, to her credit was accurate at the time she sent me that text. She never did follow up with a 2nd text to tell me that it rained shortly after message #1 to the tune of .11". 

Thanks, honey. 

Sheesh take that and run. We got .01” here, maybe. 

[Santa Clause]

[Santa Clause]

[Santa Clause]

[Santa Clause]

[canderson]

Saw the WB/Scranton Yankees postponed their game tonight due to air quality. 

[Itstrainingtime]

1 hour ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

Sheesh take that and run. We got .01” here, maybe. 

I grew up in Washington Boro and learned "very unscientifically" from older, "wiser" Boro residents that storms followed the river. As I grew up and got into Met, I realized that some of that was um...not so accurate. Today's cell came right down the Susky. My son lives in Mount Joy and they got next to nothing, Maytown was JUST inside the "win zone" today. 

[canderson]

From our cabin on Lake Huron’s north shore tonight. Family is probably leaving tomorrow 
 

[mahantango#1]

Smokey here and you can smell it.

[Itstrainingtime]

26 minutes ago, mahantango#1 said:

Smokey here and you can smell it.

I came here to say the same thing - I was just outside and the smell of smoke is very evident. 

[Jonesy56]

Just took the dog out for nightly walk, pretty wild.. eyes are burning a bit. Definitely feel for anyone with asthma this week.


.

[Itstrainingtime]

3 minutes ago, Jonesy56 said:

Just took the dog out for nightly walk, pretty wild.. eyes are burning a bit. Definitely feel for anyone with asthma this week.


.

There are waves of smoke blowing past my outside light. 

[TheClimateChanger]

5 hours ago, Voyager said:

Look at the haze/smoke on I-81 in Hazleton right now (4:20pm).

Interesting. The wildfire smoke last month prompted me to do some research. I wanted to see how unusual it was to have wildfire smoke, and what effects wildfire smoke has on the weather and climate. I came across a peculiar event on September 24, 1950 known as "Black Sunday" or "The Great Smoke Pall of 1950." Here is the article from Hazleton from that event:

[Blizzard of 93]

3 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

There are waves of smoke blowing past my outside light. 

Yes, I’ve never seen anything like this around here. 
The local fire department put a message out this evening saying the smoke was due to the wildfires & to not call 911 unless the person verifies an active fire.

[TheClimateChanger]

While we've unfortunately grown accustomed to these extreme wildfire smoke events in recent years, in 1950, it was without precedence. 911 dispatchers were flooded with calls. Many ascribed various theories ranging from the end of the world, atomic bombs, flying saucers, toxic clouds from government experiments, to a non-forecast solar eclipse. 

From the Weather Bureau's Pennsylvania Monthly Weather Review for September 1950:

[mahantango#1]

5 minutes ago, Blizzard of 93 said:

Yes, I’ve never seen anything like this around here. 
The local fire department put a message out this evening saying the smoke was due to the wildfires & to not call 911 unless the person verifies an active fire.

I remember probably 20 some years ago in the early fall it was Smokey here from a forest fire in West Virginia.

[TheDreamTraveler]

I can smell the smoke now

[Voyager]

19 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Interesting. The wildfire smoke last month prompted me to do some research. I wanted to see how unusual it was to have wildfire smoke, and what effects wildfire smoke has on the weather and climate. I came across a peculiar event on September 24, 1950 known as "Black Sunday" or "The Great Smoke Pall of 1950." Here is the article from Hazleton from that event:

Interesting article. 

17 minutes ago, Blizzard of 93 said:

Yes, I’ve never seen anything like this around here. 
The local fire department put a message out this evening saying the smoke was due to the wildfires & to not call 911 unless the person verifies an active fire.

They all must have done this. I know Tamaqua did, as did various departments in the Lehigh Valley. 

[Jonesy56]

23 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

There are waves of smoke blowing past my outside light. 

I didn't expect it to be this noticeable at the surface tonight.  The Nextdoor app comments have quickly shifted from the usual "did anyone hear those bangs? were those fireworks? gunshots?" to being flooded with "what the hell is burning in lower paxton township?!" questions.

[canderson]

If you have to be outside tomorrow for a length of time, a mask will really help your lungs. Your eyes will burn still unfortunately. 

[TheClimateChanger]

Unfortunately, the next two days look just as bad as today. Tomorrow looks to be the worst, maybe a slight reprieve on Thursday. Of course, that's contingent on additional fires not breaking out between now and then inserting additional smoke. I don't know what the weather is like in Quebec, presumably dry. But there have been bouts of pyrocumulonimbus in recent days, which can be accompanied by dry lightning.

Near surface smoke at 5 pm on Wednesday:

 

Near surface smoke at 5 pm on Thursday:

 

[TheDreamTraveler]

5 minutes ago, canderson said:

If you have to be outside tomorrow for a length of time, a mask will really help your lungs. Your eyes will burn still unfortunately. 

Yeah probably a good idea. I've got a few laying around still and these filters you can place inside so that'd be perfect I think. I'm glad I didn't throw them away lol

[Blizzard of 93]

18 minutes ago, TheDreamTraveler said:

I can smell the smoke now

Same here, it’s really intense.

[Itstrainingtime]

Another first in the Central PA thread - almost an entire page of posts in just a few hours in June discussing smoke obs. 

[Storm Clouds]

This smoke forecasting has been more exciting than this past winter ever was!

[Itstrainingtime]

17 minutes ago, Storm Clouds said:

This smoke forecasting has been more exciting than this past winter ever was!

You're not wrong...

[CarlislePaWx]

Add me to the list of smoke smellers.  Took the dog out about 45 minutes ago and immediately could smell it.  Nothing intense, for sure, but noticeable.  2 years ago when we vacationed up in Alaska, our last day there in Fairbanks was like nothing I had ever seen before.  This was not a surprise to locals as with relative frequency forest fires create a lot of smoke.  It's enough to shut down motels and resorts.  We woke up to it out our window.  It had arrived overnight.  It was like dense fog but with an odor.  I'm curious to see how bad/dense it gets later tomorrow.

[CoralRed]

6 hours ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Unfortunately, the next two days look just as bad as today. Tomorrow looks to be the worst, maybe a slight reprieve on Thursday. Of course, that's contingent on additional fires not breaking out between now and then inserting additional smoke. I don't know what the weather is like in Quebec, presumably dry. But there have been bouts of pyrocumulonimbus in recent days, which can be accompanied by dry lightning.

Near surface smoke at 5 pm on Wednesday:

 

Near surface smoke at 5 pm on Thursday:

 

Oh Jesus. Looks like northern 3/4 of our state gets hammered today. I am not sure Williamsport is part of the orange-red bit sticking down from NY state on Thursday but we are too close for comfort for me. Thanks for putting these maps up. I will take out garbage tonight. I wonder how much smoke gets into the house when the windows are shut and door only opened briefly? It will be in 70s/40s next few days so I can keep windows closed. If this keeps happening when we hit humidity plus 80s/60 though, I will have to keep windows open. 

For many years I used to live in downtown Jersey City, only separated from the Wall Street area of Manhattan by 10 blocks and the Hudson River. Yesterday's pictures of NYC are wild. They were in purple for bad air, so my old building must have been just as bad. So glad not to have been there.

 

[CoralRed]

6 hours ago, Wmsptwx said:

Thanks for putting the pictures up. I am in Williamsport. As I recall, you are in eastern Lycoming County. I was just curious where these were taken. We care going to be worse tomorrow. Earlier we were 120 something and now we are in Red at 164. Bloomsburg is worse in the 180s for the usual PM2.5 measurement and over 200 for PM10.

Yipes! I went back to Wunderground and saw at 2:03a PM2.5 was 189 at Bloomsburg. At 2:15 it was 5 points higher in less that 15 minutes!

2:15 AM  PM2.5  194.48
2:15 AM  PM10   208.79