UPDATE: The National Weather Service has cancelled the Winter Storm Warning for Schuylkill County. Snowfall is either light or stopped completely by 2 a.m. Monday.
Most Schuylkill County schools plan to hold class today. Many schools start 2 hours early. Some like this trendy 3-hour delay. Gillingham Charter School in Pottsville is closed Monday.
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The biggest snowstorm of the 2018-19 winter season is about to hit Schuylkill County. Forecasters predict between 6-10 inches of snow will fall between midday Sunday and Monday morning.
The National Weather Service in State College, Pa., has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Schuylkill County from Noon Sunday until 7 a.m. Monday.
Expect a heavy, wet snow that’s hard to shovel, says the team at PAWeatherAction.com. The Weather Channel is calling this Winter Storm Scott.
It’s been a pretty weak winter season overall for Schuylkill County. Temperatures, except for the shot of Polar Vortex, have been pretty moderate. Also, there have been no major snowstorms. And any storm that was predicted failed to live up to expectations.
Winter Storm Scott in Schuylkill County
Check out the PA Weather Action “First Call” snowfall totals map for Pennsylvania.
From PAWeatherAction.com
As you can see, Schuylkill County and much of the Anthracite coal region is the A section. According to the site, that means between 6-10 inches of snow is expected. Some higher elevations could get a foot of snow.
Unlike other areas in the path of “Winter Storm Scott”, we should expect to see only snow from this storm. Heavier precipitation is expected to fall closer to the “Rain-Snow Line” of the storm. That’s closer to the Maryland border.
The forecast out of Accuweather tells a similar story in the snow totals. They’re also predicting the best chance of getting 6-10 inches of snow in Schuylkill County. There’s also a chance, they say, of getting just 3-6 inches.
From Accuweather.com
The storm should bring a steady snowfall. No periods of excessively heavy snow are predicted.
UPDATE: National Weather Service issued an official storm forecast for Winter Storm Scott. They didn’t call it that. In the NWS forecast for Pottsville, expect snow to start closer to 3 p.m. than noon. Also, NWS is predicting just 4-6 inches of snow for Pottsville and most of Schuylkill County.
Local Forecasts for Winter Storm Scott
This morning on WNEP-TV, meteorologist Valerie Smock reported slightly more conservative snow totals for Schuylkill County. The News Station is predicting between 4-8 inches of snow from Winter Storm Scott.
PennDOT Travel Restrictions for Winter Storm Scott
As of Saturday afternoon, PennDOT has not officially imposed any commercial travel bans on state roads. The state did say it’s likely to impose those bans on the following roads:
- I-70 full length;
- PA Turnpike (I-76) from New Stanton to Carlisle;
- I-79 from West Virginia state line to I-90;
- I-80 (I-376 to I-81);
- I-99 full length;
- I-180 full length from Route 220/U.S. 15 to I-80;
- I-279 full length; and
- I-376 south of I-76
PennDOT says it will make a final call on travel restrictions later Saturday.
Of note, Interstate 81, the only interstate that cuts through Schuylkill County, is not on the list.
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