textproduct: State College

SYNOPSIS

* Lake effect snow will persist through Friday evening for the northwestern mountains, mainly close to the NY border. * Moderating temperatures are expected next week with no major storms in sight.

NEAR TERM /UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT/

Cold NW flow still generating (mainly light) LES bands over the northern Alleghenies. Reductions in visby are rare since the T-Td spreads are 10F N and 25F S and the lowest clouds about 3kft. The mean llvl flow will back a little to the SW, so we expect a further decrease in SHSN until after midnight.

SHORT TERM /MIDNIGHT THROUGH 6 PM FRIDAY/

A wave dropping down across the Great Lakes tonight and early Friday will enhance lift and make light SF for much of the western mtns, and briefly augment the LES in the NW. Accums should be light and confined to the Alleghenies. Flurries may make it into State College and Altoona, but probably not Williamsport or farther SE. Additional accumulations will top out over Warren Co where they should pick up another 2-4" with spots amounts close to 6" are possible until they taper off later in the day Friday.

Cold west wind will continue this period, with brisk conditions and wind chills into the single digits in the Alleghenies and northeastern hills - and even as cold as -5F on the higher hill tops of Potter/McKean Cos.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/

Fast moving disturbances continue to roll over PA through the period. The heights/thicknesses do rise, except for a little dip on Sat night/Sun AM. As that system moves through, a patch of light snow is expected, but only for the nrn mtns where they will pick up <2" at most = not enough to warrant any extra attention/WWAs. Another wave then moves thru Mon-Tues timeframe. It might put down a bit more QPF/SF, but the highest amounts will be in NY and hardly any accums are expected S of I-80. Temps really get warmer Tues behind that weak wave. Maxes for the rest of the week will run mostly in the 40s. Some lucky towns along and S of the Turnpike will breach 50F. The pattern change (WAA) will create rain/showers in the middle of the week, but timing confidence is low-medium, so PoPs will remain low- medium as well.

AVIATION /19Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

At 18z, MVFR cigs (and occasionally vsbys) were found across the western highlands (BFD/JST) in occasional light snow showers. Elsewhere, predominantly VFR conds were found beneath BKN cigs of 3500-5000 ft. W/NWerly winds are a bit blustery, generally gusting 15-25 kts across central PA.

Expect similar conds to persist through the aftn, before winds begin to diminish this evening.

A clipper system will bring thickening clouds areawide tonight, with scattered snow showers redeveloping (if they ever really stop) across the western highlands.

West winds will become a bit gusty again by Friday aftn behind the departing clipper. Similar to today, MVFR conds are likely to persist through the day across the western highlands in spotty -SHSN. Farther to the east, expect predominantly BKN VFR cigs.

Outlook...

Sat-Mon...Weak clippers passing to our north will occasionally bring reductions at BFD and JST, with predominantly VFR conds elsewhere.

Tue... VFR areawide.

CLIMATE

2025 closed out with many small snowfalls across Central PA, but it was a mainly drier than normal Dec.

The yearly summaries show that temperatures were very much near normal when spread out throughout the whole year. Jan was colder than normal, then we swung to warmer than normal for March. After a brief cold shot in early April, we rebounded above normal again for the rest of the month. May and June were generally near normal, but some record and near-record highs showed up in late June. July and much of August were near normal, but temps dipped slightly for the end of Aug and first part of Sept. The latter half of Sept was very mild with a few days near records. Oct and Nov were pretty close to normals, but Dec was cold. except for one big spike to near record warmth on the 19th.

We did have a very dry start to the year (and low snowfall totals) in much of PA. The early deficits led to drought conditions later in the year, despite a fairly close-to-normal amount of rainfall in the late spring and early summer. Drought conditions (especially in the southeast (Lower Susquehanna and Delaware Valleys)) early in the year were largely erased, but then returned/shifted to the northern half of the state and southwestern counties late in the summer and spread slowly to cover much of the state late in the year. Starting in early Dec, much of Central PA has been under into a Drought Watch.

See the annual climate summaries (CLA) for some detailed info for each of our five long-term climate reporting stations. CLAMDT, CLAIPT, CLAAOO, CLABFD and CLAJST.

Much more info including data plot and graphs can be made on the fly by going to: "weather.gov/statecollege" and clicking on the "Climate and Past Weather" tab just above the front-page map. That will take you to the "NOWData" tab. Select options there to see a myriad of info on past weather and how it relates to long-term normals. The current period of normals is the 30 years from 1990-2020. We have a few sites that have data back more than 120 years (Williamsport, Harrisburg, and State College). Some detailed historical snowfall info, including past seasonal snow total maps, is also available by going to "weather.gov/statecollege/moreWater" and clicking on the "Snowfall Info" tab.

CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Winter Weather Advisory until 4 PM EST Friday for PAZ004.