The snowstorm predicted didn’t materialize as we’d hoped but Saturday promises to be a tricky travel day across Schuylkill County.
According to our analysis of several weather forecasters, it appears Schuylkill County will get between 1 inch and 6 inches of snow Saturday from the storm one station calls Winter Storm Jacob. A wintry mix could keep snow totals lower in some portions of the coal region.
Still, it looks like a miserable forecast for Saturday. Let’s be honest, some of us have a hard time dealing with 1 inch of snow. A full 6 inches could bring some in the coal region to their knees.
Winter Storm Jacob Schuylkill County Snow Total – Final Forecast
You have to cut these weather forecasters off at a certain time with their snow total predictions. Otherwise, they’ll change them up until the first flakes start falling. At that point, honestly, “forecasting” amounts to sticking your head out the window and reporting what it’s doing.
They call it “nowcasting” but we aren’t falling for it.
The one thing everyone does seem to agree on is the start time. You’re going to wake up tomorrow and not see snow, more than likely.
“Well, they got this one wrong again,” you’ll say cynically.
Don’t worry, snow’s on its way. The timing of the storm brings accumulating snow over Schuylkill County sometime in mid-morning, around 10 a.m.
How much snow are we going to get once it starts? Still depends on who’s fielding that question.
So, here are the latest and final predictions for snowfall for the storm someone calls Winter Storm Jacob.
Fannock Weather
Our favorite local forecaster is sticking by his original readout on this storm. Ryan Fannock says in his late Thursday forecast that Schuylkill County can expect anywhere from 2-5 inches of snow on Saturday. Some areas could get up to 6 inches of snow.
“Temps will be steady as we head into the nighttime hours. The threat of freezing rain may create a light glaze of ice in some areas. I will look into the ice scenario on Friday as afternoon models come out,” he says.
Accuweather
Fans of no snow will enjoy Accuweather’s forecast for Schuylkill County on Saturday. They’re coming in with a low-ball offer for the upcoming storm. In Pottsville, Accuweather predicts between just 1 and 3 inches of snow Saturday.
We like this Snowfall Amount Probability chart they’ve put together:
WNEP-TV
You’re thinking, “That’s fine for Pottsville, but what about Frackville?”
This is something we tried stressing to WNEP’s John Hickey on Thursday. His forecast on Friday night kept showing a 6-inche total for Frackville. We told him, we need more information. An hour before his forecast, Kurt Aaron told us something else.
.@WNEPKurtAaron says 5" of snow on Saturday in Frackville.
The rest of Schuylkill County trying to figure out what that means for them: pic.twitter.com/Kwp04BbAB0
— Coal Region Canary 🐤 (@HardCoalCanary) January 16, 2020
It could snow a foot in Frackville but we need help figuring out what that means for the rest of us here in Schuylkill County.
Hickey cleared up our “confusion” even though we knew what he meant:
Refer to the general 2-6" snow forecast. Will not be a big storm.
— John Hickey (@JohnWNEP) January 17, 2020
We explained the situation and even tried to be nice:
Thanks for the insight, John. Generally down here, Frackville tends to be snowier than the rest of Schuylkill County. #UrbanLegend
— Coal Region Canary 🐤 (@HardCoalCanary) January 17, 2020
But then couldn’t help notice how the total changed again, late at night. He wasn’t picking up on the fun, it seems:
It's one run of one model. Again, focus on the range of 2-6".
— John Hickey (@JohnWNEP) January 17, 2020
So, he says 2-6 inches so that’s what we’ll take from The News Station.
But seriously, we showed you the Accuweather forecast for Pottsville above. And when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Here’s the one for Frackville for Saturday:
Moving on …
The Weather Channel
The weather folks who name winter storms — this being Winter Storm Jacob — are on the high side of the snow total forecast for Pottsville. According to The Weather Channel’s daily forecast, they’ve got Pottsville getting 3-5 inches of snow on Saturday.
We’ve been monitoring TWC all week and they’ve steadily remained the highest prediction.
PA Weather Action
We don’t hear too much from the folks at PA Weather Action. But when there’s a storm, their snow maps get circulated quite heavily.
For Saturday’s storm, they’re predicting most of Schuylkill County will get between 2-4 inches of snow and sleet. However, some parts of the area could get just an inch with slushy roads. That’s most likely to happen around Pine Grove and Tremont.
National Weather Service
NWS at State College seems to be more in line with the folks at The Weather Channel. In a Winter Weather Advisory issued Friday afternoon, NWS says Schuylkill County can expect between 3-5 inches of snow on Saturday.
They’re saying it’ll be a mostly snow event here in the coal region, too. Per the alert, “Snow will come down hard at times. While some mixed precipitation could occur late, most of the precipitation will be in the form of snow.”
The Winter Weather Advisory for Schuylkill County lasts from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. Saturday.
Share Your Coal Region #SnowPhoto with The Canary
Don’t forget to use our simple upload to share your favorite pics of the upcoming winter storm. We’ll feature the best of the best and the worst of the worst in upcoming Canary features.
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