A major winter storm could potentially hit Schuylkill County this weekend.
According to the latest National Weather Service forecast, “Confidence continues to increase in a significant winter storm impacting the Mid Atlantic this weekend.”
Forecasts indicate the storm would start later Saturday and continue through Sunday.
However, there is still plenty of uncertainty as to how much snow will actually fall on Schuylkill County.
NWS says there are two scenarios right now.
In one, the storm passes to our south and snow totals are lower but a plowable storm still likely for areas south of Interstate 80.
The second scenario has a more significant snowfall impacting Schuylkill County. In that, two branches of the jet stream interact “favorably” and produce more snowfall.
“This would result in the surface low tracking farther to the north and bringing the
heaviest snow into Pennsylvania with significant impacts possible in southern PA,” NWS says in an update Wednesday morning.
Right now, there’s a 60-80% chance of 6 or more inches of snow falling on areas south of the PA Turnpike. There’s a 50% chance of that much snow falling as far north as I-80.
“Details will become increasingly clear over the next day or two, but now is the time to prepare for a potentially significant winter storm that will affect parts of Central PA Saturday and Sunday,” NWS says.
Municipalities Already Preparing
The Borough of Shenandoah says it’s holding an emergency storm prep meeting on Thursday morning.
At the meeting, Borough officials are planning to discuss snow emergency procedures, potential disaster proclamations, snow removal operations, and police assistance.
Shenandoah is using its code enforcement officer to identify structures that are vulnerable to collapse under the weight of heavy snow. And a newly-hired public works supervisor will coordinate snow removal and road salting operations, the Borough says.
Mahanoy City Police sent out an alert Wednesday morning telling residents that a Snow Ban will likely be announced later this week. They’re advising residents to text ‘17948’ to ‘888777’ to receive the latest parking restrictions.
Models Show Significant Snowfall in Schuylkill County
Although we’re well aware that weather models are routinely inaccurate, especially this far away from a snowstorm, we’re sharing the following images depicting total snowfall through early Monday morning to depict that models seem aligned on a potentially significant snowstorm impacting Schuylkill County.
Do not rely on these model images for snowfall totals right now:
GFS (American)
ECMWF (Euro)
UKMET (UK)
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