First Alert Weather: Winter Weather Advisory issued for parts of Western Pa. ahead of Wednesday storm
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Here is the latest information on the winter storm system that is set to impact our area Wednesday morning. Most everything is holding to the original plan, with slight adjustments to the snowfall amounts. All of the details will be covered in this article.
First, a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from early Wednesday morning until early Wednesday afternoon. The National Weather Service issues these advisories when travel is expected to be dangerous because of winter weather. That will be our scenario Wednesday morning, thanks to the initial precipitation coming in as wet, sticky snow.
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The system will begin to drop the first snowflakes between 3-4 a.m. Wednesday. Even though the energy of the storm (low pressure) will be well to our southwest, this "low" will have enough moisture to toss into our region. That moisture will be falling into a cold pool of air, so we are looking at snow as the initial precipitation type.
This snow will likely stick and could come down quite heavily. The snow will likely continue through the morning commute. This means pre-dawn travel through the morning commute will see the greatest impacts, as this will likely be the most dangerous time period.
Temperatures will warm late morning into the afternoon. This warming will transition our snow to rain. The snow that accumulated in the morning will be squashed down and in some cases washed away during the afternoon. Travel concerns during this warm period will be minimized thanks to temperatures above freezing.
Late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the cold air will return. Any leftover moisture will result in scattered snow showers. While this snow is not anticipated to be heavy, the drop in temperatures could result in slick spots. Remember, road crews cannot treat the roads while it is raining.
Now, you are probably most interested in the snow totals. We know they are important but would like to emphasize that these snow totals will come in short order, making travel difficult in the morning. Based on the latest modeling and the observed track of the storm, this is the current snowfall forecast.
It is also important to note that the ridges do run the risk of freezing rain (icy glaze). That will keep the snow totals down, but it will also keep the impacts very high! Right now, the city of Pittsburgh is on the line between the 1-3 inches and 2-4 inches forecasted. Obviously, the further north you travel, the higher the snow totals will become, as the northern areas will spend more time in snow before the changeover.
There may be slight adjustments to these numbers based on the behavior of this system as it gets closer, so make sure to stay on top of the latest weather information from KDKA.
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