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Update: A line of “dangerous” snow squalls has moved out of eastern Pennsylvania, but high winds are lingering, leading to downed trees and power outages in area.
A wind advisory from the National Weather Service remains in effect for the region until 5 p.m. Winds of 20 to 30 mph will continue, with possible gusts of 40 to 50 mph, according to the advisory.
In Berks County, around 5,000 Met-Ed and PPL customers were without power as of 2:30 p.m., with Met-Ed having the bulk of those outages. PECO reported just over 3,000 outages Sunday afternoon across its service area in the Philadelphia region.
While the wind is causing problems, the threat of snow squalls has passed. Earlier Sunday, the weather service warned that “dangerous” squalls capable of causing near-whiteout conditions were moving across eastern Pennsylvania.
A snow squall warning that included southern parts of the Lehigh Valley expired at 11:45 a.m. Two separate warnings — one that included Montgomery and southeastern Berks counties, and another for Monroe and carbon counties in the Poconos — expired at 12:30 p.m.
Intense bursts of heavy snow and wind gusts greater than 35 mph were being produced by those squalls, leading to rapidly falling visibility, according to the weather service.
Snow showers are starting to move into parts of the area. Here is an estimate of timing. pic.twitter.com/746T6n3vw0
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 14, 2024
As the squalls moved across Pennsylvania, whiteout conditions were already reported Sunday morning across western and central portions of the state.
The weather service’s State College forecast office shared side-by-side photos from a PennDOT traffic camera, taken just 4 minutes apart, showing Interstate 80 in Clearfield County going from completely passable to snow-covered amid whitehout conditions.
These two images were taken 4 minutes apart on I-80 near the Clearfield exit. This is what we mean by rapid onset whiteout conditions and roads becoming slippery. Please avoid travel in snow squalls! #PAwx pic.twitter.com/nm1ngHl9yg
— NWS State College (@NWSStateCollege) January 14, 2024
In addition to the windy conditions, Sunday will remain cold, with a high temperature in the 30s.
Looking ahead to the coastal storm expected to impact the region Monday night into Tuesday, snow is now a near certainty for any precipitation that moves into our region, as the system will have enough cold air available, according to the weather service forecast discussion.
Still, much uncertainty remains in the forecast. Several models have backed off more dire forecasts that showed a rapid strengthening of the storm.
“In other words, a widespread significant 6+ inch snowfall event is not anticipated based on latest guidance,” according to the forecast discussion.
Instead, a 1- to 3-inch snowfall over most of the region is the likely outcome, according to the weather service.
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