Heavy Snow Expected Wednesday in Centre County

Update 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15: AccuWeather’s updated forecast for Wednesday now predicts 12-18 inches of snow for most of Centre County. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning from noon on Wednesday to 10 a.m. on Thursday for most of central and eastern Pennsylvania.

Original story:

Centre County will see its first major snowfall of the winter on Wednesday.

Tom Kines, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said about 8-12 inches of snow is expected across the region. Snowfall is likely to begin Wednesday afternoon and be at its heaviest during the evening hours.

‘If you’ve got errands to do on Wednesday, get them done in the morning,’ Kines said. ‘I suspect the traveling conditions will go downhill rapidly Wednesday afternoon… Traveling Wednesday evening, Wednesday night is going to be a slow go.’

Accumulating snow should be finished before daybreak on Thursday.

State College only had about 13 inches of snow for all of the 2019-20 winter season, according to the National Weather Service. The December single-day snowfall record for State College is 12.5 inches, set on Dec. 11, 1992.

While total accumulations from Wednesday’s storm around the county aren’t likely to vary significantly, the heaviest snow is expected to be at the eastern end of the county, which could see 2 or 3 inches more than other parts of the area.

AccuWeather forecasts Wednesday’s high temperature in State College to be 27 degrees, and the colder air means a ‘dry, fluffy,’ snow with no ice mixed in.

‘So for plowing purposes, shoveling purposes, it’s easy to move away,’ Kines said. ‘That’s the one positive out of it. If you’re looking for a snow that would be good for making snowballs, this would not be it. It should be all snow.’

The storm impacting the northeast on Wednesday is moving up from the Gulf of Mexico and will intensify as it begins to move off the east coast, Kines said.

‘Initially it’s going to have a lot of gulf moisture with it then Atlantic moisture when it gets to the coast and that combination with the cold air spells a lot of snow,’ Kines said.

After the storm moves out, no other major snow events are on the horizon for the near future. But, Kines said he also does not see much of a warmup over the next week and half, with high temperatures mostly in the mid 30s and the possibility of a day or two in the 40s.

‘There’s no extended warmth coming, so the snow that we get is probably going to be sticking around for a while, which will make Santa happy,’ Kines said.