Your tolerance for snow and cold is going to continue to be tested over the next week. We have more snow this weekend which continues into late Monday night. This is followed by an increasing chance of near record cold for the Presidents Day Weekend.

Snow is in the forecast from later this evening through Tuesday. The amount of moisture we will see over the next few days isn’t a blockbuster amount, but because of the cold temperatures the snow will pile up over time.

The snow doesn’t really get underway until late tonight or early Sunday. This first batch of snow brings a light to moderate snowfall. There might be something like an inch on the ground when you get up tomorrow morning, with another inch or two during the day. If you have plans today or tonight go ahead and enjoy them.

There won’t be travel delays from the weather through Sunday morning. Snow becomes steadier during the day tomorrow, but won’t be heavy.

I don’t expect the snow to prevent travel. You will have to allow extra time to get from point A to Point B as roads won’t be dry and bare, but this isn’t going to be like many of our other storms this winter that have come in hard and fast with heavy snow.

I expect 2-4 inches of snow Sunday with the greatest amount from about Portland south.

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Overnight Sunday into the Monday morning commute 3-6” inches of snow will fall with the most over southern York County .

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The snow continues all day Monday bringing another 3-5” through the evening. There might be another 2-4 inches overnight Monday into the Tuesday morning commute.

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Travel Delays and Cancellations
The period with the greatest chance of delays is Monday from about 7AM to 7PM. Yet, even during this time, the snow won’t be exceedingly heavy. Some of our storms this winter have brought snowfall rates of 1-3 inches per hour. We are looking at rates that are closer to a quarter to half an inch per hour. This means roads can be cleared easier and delays and cancellations potentially fewer. Of course it’s up to the individual institutions what they are going to do. By Tuesday morning the snow will be ending or over with little no additional accumulation.

Arctic Cold
With all the deep snow cover any cold air moving south from the arctic will not have a chance to modify. It’s like putting a bunch of cold air in a refrigerator, it stays cold. Late next week or next weekend the upper wind flow is forecast to bring a large amount of arctic air south. This might bring several days when the temperature goes below zero with afternoon high temperatures in the single numbers to lower teens, perhaps colder than anything we have seen this winter.

While the winter of 2014-2015 got off to a slow start, it has become a winter you’ll be talking about for decades to come.


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