Snow tracking east of city; rainfall here
State officials have issued travel advisories for Tuesday covering much of northern, central and eastern Pennsylvania, though the storm system will be kinder to the Pittsburgh area.
“I think you guys are going to luck out over there,” Alyson Hoegg, a meteorologist with AccuWeather in State College, Centre County, said Monday night. “This is going to be largely a rain event for you, with probably somewhere around an inch of rain overnight and through the day [Tuesday]. You have to look east, up into the higher elevations of Westmoreland County and Johnstown, to get to the bad weather.
“Pittsburgh temperatures will be in the mid-30s overnight and go up Tuesday into the mid-40s. So it’s not going to be a bad day.”
Snow already falling to the east Monday night prompted Pennsylvania officials to place restrictions on some interstates on Tuesday.
At 6 a.m. Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Turnpike will implement a full commercial vehicle ban, including buses, on the following roadways:
Interstate 380, full length from I-81 to I-80; I-80 from I79 to the New Jersey state line; I-81 from I-78 to the New York state line; I-84, full length from I-81 to the New York state line; I-476 — Pennsylvania Turnpike, Northeast Extension — from I-78 to Clarks Summit, Exit 131; and I-180, full length from Route 220/U.S. 15 to I-80.
Other prohibitions include empty, straight commercial driver’s license-weighted trucks; all double trailers; tractors hauling empty trailers; any trailers pulled by motorcycles, passenger vehicles, pickup trucks or SUVs; all motorcycles; and all recreational vehicles and RVs on the following roadways: Pennsylvania Turnpike — I-76, I276, I-95 — from I-81 to the New Jersey state line; I-176; I-283; I-476, non-Turnpike, full length; I-476 — Pennsylvania Turnpike, Northeast Extension — from Mid-County Exit 20 to Lehigh Valley Exit 56; I-676; I76, Turnpike and non-Turnpike, New Stanton to Philadelphia; I-78, full length from I-81 to the New Jersey state line; I-81 from the Maryland state line to I78 split; I-83 from the Maryland state line to I-81; I-95, full length; Route 22 from I78 to the New Jersey state line; and Route 33 from I-78 to I-80.
A 45 mph speed restriction will be in place on all roadways with vehicle restrictions and may be implemented sooner and on non-vehicle-restricted roadways as well.
A snow emergency was declared in State College, where forecasts called for 3 inches or more. Residents were being asked to remove their cars from curbside parking spots so plows could remove snow from streets.
“The Johnstown area definitely is a concern,” Ms. Hoegg said, “because you’re going to see a heavy, wet snow, and then piling sleet on top of that isn’t good and will probably prevent it from melting until Wednesday. The Johnstown-Somerset area could see snow mixing over to sleet and then a prolonged freezing rain event with a quarter inch of ice in the high terrain.”