11:30 UPDATE: PA Turnpike says all restrictions have been lifted, except for a few spots out of the area.
When all is said and done with this major winter storm, Pittsburgh, for the most part, will have dodged another bullet with the snow not making it as far north as previously predicted.
Mike Kennedy with the Pittsburgh office of the National Weather Service tells KDKA Radio, “It really hasn’t performed as much as we thought. I think the amounts are going to come in quite lower than what was forecast and that has a lot to do with things like the snow to liquid ratios is pretty low.”
Learn more about the snow to liquid ratio here.
Kennedy said this has been a difficult storm to forecast when it comes to snowfall because the band of snow was so tight.
The latest forecast calls for up to an inch and a half through the morning with another inch possible Monday afternoon.
To put it simply, the storm has “underperformed”.
South of Pittsburgh snow totals will be higher.
Allegheny County is under a Winter Weather Advisory and counties to the south are under a Winter Weather Warning through 7 p.m. The NWS could cancels those earlier.
So, what’s the difference?
Kennedy says an advisory is three inches or greater over a 12-hour period and a warning is 6 inches or greater over a 12-hour time frame or 8 inches over 24 hours.
KDKA-TV Chief Meteorologist Ray Petelin tells The Big K Morning Show when it comes to predicting the weather, they have a lot of areas they have to forecast and try to be as specific as possible.
Petelin says it’s important to know exactly where you are in Western PA.
“Know where you are on a map, because sometimes, they’ll see the map and look at the biggest number and say ‘hey, that’s what I’m getting’ and if you know where you are on the map it’s a lot better for you to digest this weather information and to know what we’re thinking for you,” said Petelin.
Like the National Weather Service, Petelin says the dividing line of snow is right through Pittsburgh, which makes it hard to forecast.
Something the Pittsburgh area is used to, being a wild card when it comes to snowfall.