4 Am update

Yeah the time is right it's four am and I'm still up which can only mean one thing, A major storm is near the area. The storm that has been talked about for the past few days is reaching the Pittsburgh area. The National weather service has updated the winter storm warning to include more information and advice to the public.

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST WEDNESDAY...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST WEDNESDAY.

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY.

AN ADVANCING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL SPREAD SNOW ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. THIS SNOW WILL MIX WITH SLEET BY LATE AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. SOME ISOLATED FREEZING RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES TODAY AND TONIGHT. 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW COULD ACCUMULATE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...WITH 6 TO 10 INCHES POSSIBLE TO THE NORTH. THE HEAVIER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED OVER AREAS TO THE NORTH OF PITTSBURGH.IN ADDITION...A PERIOD OF SLEET IS LIKELY ON TUESDAY EVENING...WITH FREEZING RAIN POSSIBLE FROM PITTSBURGH ON SOUTH.

WEDNESDAY WILL BE QUITE WINDY WITH FALLING TEMPERATURES.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW...SLEET...AND ICE ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS. POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE IF A LARGE AMOUNT OF ICE ACCUMULATES ON POWER LINES.

TRAVEL ON TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING IS DISCOURAGED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR UPDATES ON THIS INCOMING WINTER STORM.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh doesn't often use this harsh of language. But I agree with them that it is critical that driving is discouraged.

Currently:

The radar is showing that Snow has began to push into the region. Note:In the south you will notice a strong line of severe storms are sparking some fears of tornadic activity in the great New Orleans area.

The current surface map is showing the Low pressure system responsible for all this activity is still centered over Arkansas.


By 1 pm tomorrow the low moves towards the Northeast and heavy snow continues.

By the evening rush hour we will be looking at Snow, Sleet, and Freezing Rain, I think we will only see this for a few hours eventually changing back over to heavy snow. The primary factor are the temperatures both at the surface and the mid levels of the atmosphere as to how much snow does melt and change in the mid levels to sleet and freezing rain. (Rain will come down but back the surface is just so cold it freezing very quickly) Depending on the Freezing rain and sleet combined with the winds on Wednesday morning we could be looking at quite a few power outages. I will try to update before 1 pm.