SUNBURY — The earliest fall snowstorm on record walloped the Valley with up to 3 inches late Thursday and knocked power out to almost 2,000 homes and businesses.
Falling limbs and trees downed power lines in western Snyder and Union counties.
PPL announced a storm emergency at 4 p.m. Thursday and by 5:15 p.m. Friday, 197 PPL customers in Snyder, Union and Northumberland counties were still without power, the majority in western Union County’s Hartley (153) and Lewis (18) townships. PPL estimated that all power would be restored by 9 p.m. Friday.
In western Snyder County, Spring Township Supervisor Dale A. Bishop said he went out to inspect the roads shortly after midnight Thursday.
“There were trees across some roads and lots of branches strewn all over, but largely, we were spared,” said Bishop, of Beaver Springs.
“We had people cutting and trimming trees so that power lines would not come down,” he said. “PPL crews were out on the streets doing their jobs.”
Roads in the Valley were treacherous. Among the roads closed because of conditions was Route 235 near Beaver Springs.
Due to the heavy, wet snow, most state forest roads within the Bald Eagle State Forest were blocked by fallen trees and branches, said Amy Griffith, the district forester.
Bald Eagle State Forest includes land in Union and Snyder counties.
Main routes had been cleared of debris, but state forest roads were closed Friday morning, Griffith said.
“It was simply too dangerous to keep them open,” she said Friday afternoon. “Trees went down on live power lines. We had people out there, but trees were just falling all around us. We’d clear a road and then trees would start falling right behind us. We just decided to pull everyone until Monday morning.”
Griffith was concerned that more snow over the weekend would add to the problem.
Another 1 to 3 inches is expected today.
Brian Edwards, a meteorologist in AccuWeather, in State College, blames the early snowfall on a cold front that moved through the region earlier in the week, and a cold, high-pressure system that stalled behind it.
“We had unseasonably cold seasonal temperatures in place, and in the upper levels there was a dip in the jet stream, which allowed this storm system to south pass of the region,” Edwards said. “Now we are on the cold side of storm. You get a northeasterly flow that locks the cold in place. When have precipitation occurring, it can be in form of snow.”
Precipitation today will increase in coverage and intensity, Edwards said.
“We will see a lot of precipitation during the day,” he said. “It will continue to be snow in the higher terrain, above 1,000 feet. There will be snow that mixes in and changes over in lower elevations, especially (Saturday) night into Sunday, in places like Sunbury and Selinsgrove.
“I think the most accumulation you will see is 1 to 3 inches in the lower elevations, mainly on nonpaved surfaces.”
The previous earliest recorded snowfall in autumn in the Valley was Oct. 18, 1901.
Does the early snow foretell a bad winter?
“That’s a tough call at this point,” Edwards said. “We are predicting the jet stream to be south of the area, which would bode well for storms with snow.”
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