Quick Hit

Did anybody notice the snow this morning?  I refer to mainly anybody in the Reading area.  So much for some passing snow showers. 

As we get ready to say goodbye to December, we might not be able to call it a month to remember but it was one that I will give a solid A grade to.  It looks like measurable snow is done with for the rest of the month.  However the way this month went I'm not sure we can even say that at this point.  Allentown came in officially with over 15 inches for the month.  It doesn't sound like a lot.  It has more to do with the frequent nature of the snow.

After today, I will use Reading as an example.  Unofficially or officially depending on how serious you take my running total for the city, Reading is just under 12 inches for the month.  A solid showing considering there is another two and a half months of good snow producing season left.  We should be on our way to a higher than average total snowfall especially if the coastal storms get going.  So far it's been quiet on that front.  Not so quiet on the quick morning snows which seem to consistently hit at rush hour.

From December 8th to December 17th measurable snow was reported five days.  In the week from the 8th on a Sunday to the 14th on a Saturday it literally snowed every other day.  The average high in that span of 10 days was 32 degrees.  The average high in that time span would normally be 42.  By the weekend the highs in Reading were 59 and 68 and another 59 on Monday.  The following day on Christmas Eve a quick snow squall laid down a measurable coating for Reading.  Christmas the high hit 29.  Another full ten degrees below the average. 

If you are still following that brings us to today.  The call going in was for a coating of snow for the region due to a passing front.  It would have been accurate if at the end they said a coating for all (except Berks County).  It was bad enough the Reading paper had to do an article about it. 

Now listen I know this is what we call the northern part of the United States and we clearly have seen and driven in snow before.  The issue once again like the Philadelphia snowstorm earlier in the month is that it was completely, as stated above, unexpected.  A lot of people don't follow the weather.  They really don't follow it when nothing is supposedly coming in the morning.  They really really don't follow it on Christmas when people are gathered around kitchen tables or holiday trees.  So it shouldn't be a surprise to see headlines like this or the following image.

Once again the turnpike near Morgantown became the scene of early morning chaos.  As you can see from the picture and in the description this accident involved 35 vehicles after the snow came down hard and fast this morning.  The lanes were closed from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon.

Here is how little of an idea I had about this and I follow weather.  I had some business to take care of this morning so as I woke and prepared for the day by getting on the computer and turning on a little Premier League action I never once bothered looking outside.  It took a phone call for me to open the blinds to see everything covered and snow falling at the size and intensity as shown in the first picture.  I checked the radar and saw a fairly heavy but narrow band going across the region.  The band stretched throughout all of eastern PA and moved from west to east.  Alright, put the travel plans on hold for a bit. 

A coating my ass.  The tire tracks on the streets in the complex showed at least a few inches of depth.  I headed north towards the Lehigh Valley after I knew the snow had passed.  I can also report as many others probably can (see accident above and the 44 car accident on I-78 in Berks) that I never once saw a plow or salt truck.  Not even at my complex who have things cleared the second it starts accumulating.  Even they were sitting at home in their pajamas with the rest of the crews.  As I headed north towards the Lehigh Valley it wasn't long before the difference was very noticeable.  As I approached Allentown you could tell the roads were never touched with a plow.  The grass was still poking out of lawns.  Even side streets were not covered.  The same band moved through the whole region yet most saw nothing.

The sun even came out for most of the day and melted what had fallen in Allentown.  I returned home in the late afternoon and everything still covered here.  So I checked the totals.

Allentown:  0.4 inches
Philadelphia:  Trace

Reading at last report was at 2.5.  Many other towns were over two as well.  No other town in a different eastern PA county reported more than 1.8.  That's how tight the heavy gradient of snow was.

Here were some of the Reading Eagle quotes:

  "We were expecting some snow, but only about a coating," he said. "Instead we got an inch or two in a three-hour time frame. I think it was the fact that it came down a lot quicker and harder over a shorter period of time than we expected."

 Today's forecast was for a passing snow shower during the day, so many were caught off-guard by the intensity and duration of the snowfall.

Allentown and Philadelphia only received the expected coating.

Another messy December day with snow.  Another morning commute turned nightmare.  Another swing and a miss for the weather community.  Sometimes it's better to simply stay off the roads.  Unless you work for PennDot.  You folks should probably be out there.