Year One

On this date one year ago I was handed the keys to the place I currently reside.  It had been a long time coming.  Sort of.  After being the the lone family member exiled to Berks County at an early age I knew I wanted to return to the Lehigh Valley when I got older.  Bethlehem always held a special place for various reasons.  The town became so synonymous with memories I virtually closed the book on visiting for years.  An after work run in July of 2014 through the city changed everything.  I knew at that moment where I wanted to live.

This morning while waiting to leave for work at the very specific time of 7:12, I stood in front of my living room window admiring the view.  I wondered aloud when would I get sick of it.  The answer, not anytime soon.

I've felt as though I've lived here for years.  In some ways I guess I have.  I attended the first ever Musikfest, skated at the ice rink when it was literally outside and entertained myself on a porch near the high school by counting cars that went by.  It also helps that the town is filled with an abundance of events.  I'd list ones I've experienced over the past year, but it would take awhile and I would still miss a few.  The great thing about the area is there is so much more to explore.  I've only scraped the surface.  With a year under my belt the idea now is to continue to get out there.  Not only the events surrounding Main Street but the entire area.  Whether it is the numerous musical performances or plays or historical tours or museums or dinner parties or running events I will be taking it all in.  From Bethlehem to Allentown to Easton or the small towns in-between.  All while I document it on here.

Of course there will always be the weather posts.  I didn't expect to get a 30 inch snowstorm within the year I arrived.  That will be saved for the weather recap when this winter season ends.

There is plenty of time for fun.  Tonight will be for relaxing.  No better way to celebrate than watch the Edmonton Oilers pull out a victory later this evening.  On second thought, not even my move could turn that team around.  20 games to go and sitting solidly in last place.  Let's shoot for two goals tonight and work up from there.  

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Weird Continued

Flooding rains, ice and snow.  No, it's not a recap of the weather around the country.  It's what I've experienced on my commute this week.  A normal winter went out the window awhile ago.

One of the more intriguing things about a 30 mile commute each day through three counties is seeing the difference in weather conditions.  Add in elevation and it can become even different.  I could write a summary every week of the differences I notice.

With temperatures in the 30's on Tuesday the light precipitation had all frozen onto the trees as I went home after work for the majority of my drive where the elevation was above 800 feet.  I wasn't too surprised.  I also knew the roads would be fine after highs in the 50's the day before.  After a lot of years of following weather it can really help to understand situations.  Yesterday the torrential downpours came through.  Nothing severe in my area however the rainfall amounts were quite high.  Almost three inches in Allentown which was by far the highest amount I saw in the region.  It's the highest I have seen the local river and creeks since I moved here.  And then today on my way home on the hill there was a steady light snow falling for about 10 miles of the trip. 

Highs this week were in the 30's, 50's and 60's.  Highs in the upcoming days will likely be in the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's.  Now the question becomes what's left of winter? 

There are two systems to follow for the upcoming week.  One will be for the Wednesday-Thursday time period and the other for the weekend.  Easier to focus on the first.  Right now we would be in the warm sector of the storm.  Rainfall could be heavy at times with blustery conditions especially on the back end.  The storm would help usher in some colder air for the end of the week.  That's when we would start to get into the next storm.  Too far away for anything.  The European is also less that impressed so no need to follow the GFS closely for now.

Now to sports... If the outdoor series of NHL games hasn't worn out it's welcome yet (one game a year please Gary) wait until this weekend.  Break out the board shorts and tanks and dare I say flip-flops.  Nothing says hockey better than high temperatures during the day in the 70's.  Luckily somebody smart decided to hold the game at night when temperatures will be a more chill hockey temperature of 60 something.  I believe Denver will now host the first, what I call, hockey polo game.  It's a combination of water polo and lacrosse.


As noted earlier, I often see quite a variety of different types of weather on my commute.  Today was no different except that maybe it was.  As the sun came up from the east, a line of moderate showers was approaching from the west.  You can see from the picture below the sun shining off the brick building compared to the grayish haze in the direction of Allentown.  Sunlight and water droplets.   

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Wacky Week

When winter is all said and done wacky might be the term used to sum the season up.  We aren't done yet so I will save that post for another day.  And yes, a post about the historic storm will surely precede my summary.  There continue to be storms to talk about and right now I don't have the needed amount of time to properly give to a storm that dropped over 30 inches of snow.

On to February we go.  Stay with me as I throw out useless information just for the hell of it.  If you thought February has been cold you must not remember the past two winters.  The highest temperature over the past two February's recorded in Allentown was 49.  The first three days this February were over 50.  The wacky theme continues.  About those lows in the single digits or even approaching negative numbers for the weekend?  It's about time.  Here is how many times in 2014 and 2015 we hit zero or below.

2014 = 8
2015 = 6

So far Allentown has only reached single digits twice let alone zero degrees.  I believe Reading has not hit single digits once this winter.  Looking at the trends it's unlikely we will get a colder air mass the rest of the year so let's get to zero.

Thanks to that arctic air mass the lake effect machine is back on which has lead to scattered pop up snow squalls.  Various areas of the region have seen quick bursts of snow.  I was most impressed with the event on Wednesday morning (I believe it was Wednesday) when I left for work with the sun rising and 40 minutes later was in quite the heavy snow squall.  On the radar it was about the size of two towns and basically came out of nowhere to quickly produce a snow that covered the roads.

** Random info alert **

That slow moving system of snow that pushed in on Tuesday that left many locations in Berks, Chester and Lancaster counties with 5 to 7 inches of snow also managed to accomplish another small feat.  It was the third straight year it has snowed on February 9th.

TO THE WEATHER WE GO...

Always nice when the two main model systems completely disagree.  Euro says next storm tracks well to our west which puts us predominantly in the heavy rain.  GFS suggest a few inches of snow before a change to ice mixed with rain.  Tiebreaker goes to the Canadian.  It currently agrees with the GFS.  So basically stay tuned and expect wintry weather to begin the week.  Plus there could also be something Wednesday night.

If you are trying to look ahead all the models agree that temperatures will rebound next weekend.  Though there does appear to be a chance for showers.


As strange as the weather has been for us, it's also been like that for virtually every other part of the country.  The warm weather in the beginning of the season kept the lake effect areas dry in November and December when they normally receive the most lake effect snow.  However it also now has kept the lakes unfrozen which will keep this area prime for more snowfall.  They still lag well behind compared to average.  Where am I going with this?  Allentown currently sits in 10th for the most snowfall this season for cities of more than 100,000 people.  The past two winters when Allentown received over 50 inches both years the city didn't finish higher than 20th.  We will never be able to compete with towns like Erie and Syracuse but a top 5 finish would be pretty cool.


 February 9th, 2016 Snowfall

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The Snow is Back

Aside from one storm we have had a grand total of 0.4 inches of snow this season.  We look to add to that total over the next few days.  Warnings and advisories are posted throughout the region.  Areas to the north show nothing which in part has to do with lighter snowfall and different criteria for an advisory.

Though most areas will not see substantial snowfall (compared to the last storm) this is the first measurable snowfall of any significance that will occur during a week day which automatically creates many more potential problems and issues. 

The heaviest snow appears to be located between Reading and Lancaster which most models show as picking up close to six inches.  One of the more intriguing things I've noticed is a slight shift to the north.  What that actually means, I don't know.  Right now the warnings extend from Baltimore to Lancaster and Philadelphia.  The models want to push that snow further north which after the last major storm wouldn't be a big surprise to me.  Take a look at the NAM model which just updated minutes ago.

 
You see 7-9 inch totals specifically in Berks county while places like Baltimore and Philadelphia are closer to two inches.  The NAM was quite accurate in the big storm in January so maybe it is on to something here.  I don't have enough time to get into the whole thing but the setup reminds me of the snow in Philadelphia when the Eagles played the Lions.  They picked up a fairly good snowfall over a quick amount of time in an isolated area.  Might see something like that play out again for very specific areas.

Speaking of football, I have still yet to see or read about anything from the Super Bowl.  As of 10:00 tonight I don't even know who won.  I had planned on doing my recap from the last monster storm yesterday, but after a long midday run, watching two hockey games including a nail biter from the Oilers and my evening recorded soccer game I ended up running out of gas.  Expect to see the recap this weekend when the temperatures drop to likely below zero temperatures.  That's why I was out and about this weekend.

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