Icy Aftermath/Storm Update

The snow and sleet have moved out of the Reading area, but now comes the wind and bitter cold.

The winter storm began for the Lehigh Valley as light snow during yesterday's morning commute. Snow continued off and on throughout the morning into the early afternoon when the snow really intensified for the afternoon drive home. Roads which were mainly wet throughout the day, became snow covered within 30 minutes. After picking up about 3 inches of snow, the precipitation turned to sleet as warmer air aloft invaded the area around 7pm.

The sleet continued throughout the night and into Wednesday morning at varying intensities. By 10 this morning sleet had accumulated about 2-4 inches throughout the area. As the coastal low moved northward to Long Island, winds shifted from the east to north-northwest thus driving out the warmer air aloft and changing the sleet back to a several hour period of heavy snow.

The snow tapered to flurries by late afternoon but not before leaving another 4-8 inches of snow on top of the mess that had already fallen. As the storm moves away, northwest winds will increase greatly pulling in brutally cold Arctic air to the region. Temperatures will plummet to around 5 degrees tonight with sustained winds of 20-30 mph. This will produce dangerously cold wind chills around 20 below zero. Any slush or standing water will freeze solid by midnight creating yet another tricky commute tomorrow morning. My advice is stay off the roads tonight and possibly wait a couple hours tomorrow morning before venturing out.

From the fabulously cold bachelor pad/weather center in Reading, I'm K-money.