By WJAC Weather on November 29th, 2008 at 6:37 PM
Let’s set the record straight, first of all… I would prefer all snow! Honestly, I think most of us would. That’s not going to be the case with this storm coming into the region. This one looks to bring a little bit of ice.
In the beginning, we were watching and tracking the storm to see which path it was going to take. There were a couple of different options. Check them out below…
 Which Path Will This Storm Take? In Track #1, the storm would have more of an inland feel to it. With the storm going farther to the west, we’d end up on the warmer side of the storm. That means we’d be dealing with mixed precipitation until the storm passed through the area. On the backside, we’d look forward to some snow.
 Track #1 - More Inland, Warmer In Track #2, the storm would have more of a coastal feel to it. That means that the warmer air would all be to our south and east, leaving us on the colder side of the storm. That would have meant all snow.
 Track #2 - More Coastal, Colder Obviously, there are an almost infinite number of variables between these two main tracks, but you get the gist.
So, the question is… which track is this storm taking? Well, it looks like the winning track is… (Read More)
By Tony Martin on November 26th, 2008 at 11:02 PM
Here’s a question that arrived in my email box a while back:
“Does humidity play a big factor in winter? If the temperature is 35 with a high humidity, will it feel warmer than if the temperature is 35 with a low humidity?  Thank you for your help.”
-Carol
I replied:
“Hi Carol,
[...]
By Tony Martin on November 26th, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Stormy Times
So it’s been cold the past two weeks. We’ve had some snow. But so far we’ve escaped the big storm.
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 25th, 2008 at 1:00 PM
There are still advisories in place across the Alleghenies. Take a look at the map below to see if your county is under an advisory…
Warnings as of 1 PM on Tuesday
By Tony Martin on November 24th, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Here’s a look at what our next storm system will leave behind by Wednesday evening. Another inch or two is possible Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but you get the idea from this:
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 24th, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Just a quick update to let you know the latest on our next winter weather event. This one looks to have its sights set on the north as opposed to the south.
The National Weather Service already has a Winter Weather Advisory out for parts of the viewing area. There’s also a Winter Storm Warning for Extreme Western Allegany County in Maryland. Check out the map below.
 Weather Advisories for 11/24 and 11/25 The National Weather Service issued those advisories. Here’s what they have to say about the advisory for the northern counties. (If you want to see what they said about the southern counties, visit www.weather.gov/ctp.
WARREN-MCKEAN-POTTER-ELK-CAMERON-NORTHERN CLINTON-CLEARFIELD-NORTHERN CENTRE-SOUTHERN CENTRE-TIOGA-NORTHERN LYCOMING-SULLIVAN-SOUTHERN CLINTON-SOUTHERN LYCOMING
858 AM EST MON NOV 24 2008
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 5 AM EST TUESDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW AND MIXED PRECIPITATION…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 5 AM EST TUESDAY.
PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS A BRIEF MIXTURE OF SNOW AND SLEET BEFORE CHANGING TO MAINLY SNOW BY LATE AFTERNOON. 1 TO 3 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION ARE LIKELY BY THIS EVENING…ESPECIALLY NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 AND ON RIDGE TOPS.
SNOW…LIKELY MIXED WITH SLEET OR RAIN SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80…WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING. AN ADDITIONAL INCH OR TWO OF ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80…ALONG WITH PATCHY FREEZING RAIN EARLY THIS EVENING.
THE EVENING COMMUTE WILL BE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY THIS MESSY WINTRY MIX. PLAN AHEAD FOR DELAYS AND ALLOW EXTRA TRAVEL TIME FROM LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TONIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE SOURCE OF WEATHER INFORMATION FOR THE LATEST UPDATES. ADDITIONAL DETAILS CAN ALSO BE FOUND AT…
WEATHER.GOV/STATECOLLEGE.
So, how much snow can we expect? Well, with this type of storm (rain mixing with / changing to snow), it is a more difficult call. It all depends on how quickly the changeover takes place. I do expect that we’ll see a couple of inches here and there, especially north of I-80. Have a look at what Futurecast is doing with this storm.
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 23rd, 2008 at 7:43 PM
It’s time for another WJAC-TV Weather Kid. This week, we have Olivia. Here’s Olivia’s debut on WJAC-TV on Friday, November 21st.
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 PM
So, we’ve been getting snow reports left and right and now it’s time to sum up what you think so far. By the way, if you’d like to make your snow predictions, you can do so on the main weather page at wjactv.com. You only have until the end of the month!
Let’s recap what we said about the winter first.
 - November and December will be close to normal
 - January through March will be above average
 - The season will be above average
Last year’s averages were as follows:
Johnstown: 70″
Altoona: 37″
State College: 32″
DuBois: 59″
Combined Total: 198″
A little ways into the competition, here’s where we stand right now:
Johnstown: 13.6″
Altoona: 0.4″
State College: 1.7″
DuBois: 5.5″
Combined Total: 21.2″
Now, it’s time to see what you’ve said so far. I’ve put all the information into an Excel spreadsheet and found the following (If you haven’t yet made a guess, go to the main weather page now and do so before continuing with the post.)…
(Read More)
By Tony Martin on November 20th, 2008 at 6:23 PM
Snow showers and squalls will pile up across the area through Saturday morning. The Laurel Highlands will see their heaviest snow from late tonight through Friday afternoon. The Northern Alleghenies will see their heaviest early this evening then again tomorrow night through Saturday morning. A few locations in both areas could see a foot [...]
By WJAC Weather on November 19th, 2008 at 9:16 PM
It’s time for another snow event across the Alleghenies. This time, it’s a two-parter.
The first part is a quick-moving clipper system that’ll get here tonight and will be out of here by tomorrow around midday. The second part is the lake-effect machine, again.
So how much snow are we going to get? Click in for details…
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 18th, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Have you seen this yet on WJAC-TV News? We’ve gained access to PennDOT’s Road Weather Information System. In case you’re wondering what it is, RWIS is a network of reporting stations on area roadways. These stations provide us with air temperature, current precipitation, road temperature, and most importantly, road condition.
You’ll see a map like the one below on WJAC-TV News from time to time to let you know how the roadways are across the Alleghenies. Let’s talk about the map and what the different number/colors mean.
(Read More)
By Tony Martin on November 17th, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Lake effect and upslope snow will continue through Tuesday afternoon, with some spots in the Laurel Highlands picking up over a half foot of the white stuff.
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 17th, 2008 at 1:16 PM
Here’s the newest snow report thread. Just leave a comment here with your name, snow total, location and time. We may report some of your snow totals on the news. Please be as accurate as possible.
If you want to know how to measure snow properly, please check out this blog entry. This is [...]
By WJAC Weather on November 17th, 2008 at 1:10 PM
I was checking the National Weather Service website and found a pretty cool link. The link states that this week, November 17th through November 21st, is Winter Weather Awareness Week. Pretty good timing, right?
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 16th, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Here’s a look at the expected snow totals through Tuesday at 6 PM. We’ll have an updated look at expected snow totals tomorrow. At this point, it looks like the heavieset snow will fall late Monday night into Tuesday. As usual, the highest elevations and snow belt in the Northern Alleghenies will see the most snow. This being a lake-effect event, the location of the bands will determine who sees the most snow.
By the way, this map is in high-resolution. It’s still a computer model, but this should do a better job of identifying the mountain. Click in for the hyper-local map.Â
(Read More)
By Tony Martin on November 14th, 2008 at 5:11 PM
Here’s our latest future weatherman – Matt from Somerset.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpiPOUoyTS8]
By WJAC Weather on November 11th, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Today’s date is November 11th.  You may be saying ‘yeah, so what?’ Well, this day is a pretty big one in the record books across parts of the country, especially back in 1911.
While poking around online, I saw that someone mentioned that a lot of things happened on this day in history, [...]
By Tony Martin on November 10th, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Now that you know the eventual outcome (at least our forecast) of this upcoming winter, I want to take a moment here to explain why we are expecting what we are and what could happen to put a wrench in our forecast.
The big story for the upcoming winter will be a lack of a significant ENSO signal. ENSO stands for El Nino Southern Oscillation, and refers to how El Nino and La Nina change the Eastern Pacific Oscillation. What??? Well, without any significant El Nino or La Nina, that means the EPO (Eastern Pacific Oscillation) will be a big player in the forecast this season. When we see the EPO go to a negative state (low heights and pressure), that means that we typically see a ridge of high pressure in directly downstream which is the western US creating a positive Pacific North American Pattern (PNA).
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 10th, 2008 at 6:10 PM
Here it is… the video for this year’s Wintercast. Click in to the post to see if we’re going to be warmer or colder this year. You’ll also find out ways to keep yourself warm while saving money this year. Finally, we’ll detail how much snow you can expect through the winter.
(Read More)
By WJAC Weather on November 10th, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Now that we’ve revealed our winter forecast for 2008-09, it’s time to see what professors from Penn State University and Millersville University have to say about the subject. I sent an e-mail to California University of Pennsylvania as well, but they were unfortunately unavailable to participate.
In my e-mail, I asked representatives from these schools what they thought about the coming winter. I asked them specifically…
More / Less snow than average
Warmer / colder than average
More / Less snow than last year
Warmer / colder than last year
Timing / type of the bigger storms
Etc.
…and some reasoning behind the forecast.
My second response came from Eric Horst of Millersville University. Here’s more about Eric according to the Millersville University website…
A native of Lancaster Pennsylvania, Eric has a special interest in forecasting and “media meteorology.” He is a graduate of Penn State University (’86 Meteo), and he has been an adjunct faculty and staff member at Millersville University since 1988. In the early 1990s, Eric also worked as a part-time, on-air meteorologist at WGAL, the NBC affiliate in the Harrisburg/Lancaster market. At Millersville, Eric is founder of the Campus Weather Service and the MU Weather Information Center, of which he is the Director.
Continue reading to see what Eric had to say about the upcoming winter…
(Read More)
|
|
Filed in: 
Comments: 
Share:
Recent Comments