While a number of meteorologists and state officials prepared for a massive winter wallop, many residents in Northeast Pennsylvania woke up Monday morning to find the storm didn't quite live up to its highest billing. While a major Nor'easter did indeed slam the East Coast with blizzard conditions, the heaviest snow bands tracked further south and east than initially feared for the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre areas.
According to the National Weather Service the valley cities were braced for a significant accumulation that could have snarled morning commutes. However, a slight shift in the storm's track meant that the "jackpot" totals of 10-plus inches were reserved for the Poconos and southeastern Pennsylvania. In the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys, snowfall totals largely settled below the lower end of the predicted ranges, with many neighborhoods seeing just an inch or two of slushy accumulation in the cities, with more in the Poconos and eastern part of the region.
The lower totals were a result of the storm's core intensifying closer to the coast—a process known as bombogenesis—which pulled the deepest moisture toward the I-95 corridor. While New York City and parts of New Jersey were buried under more than a foot of snow, the "dry slot" of the storm clipped parts of the Northern Tier and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. This resulted in a lighter, more manageable snowfall that allowed many of the PennDOT vehicle restrictions to be evaluated and lifted sooner than expected.
The Stormtracker 16 forecast was most accurate. They forecasted 2 to 5 inches in the valley cities, but this morning Joe Snedeker reported little over an inch in their backyard in Moosic, Pa. Despite the lighter accumulation in the valleys, residents are still encouraged to use caution, as the high of 33 degrees today will drop sharply to 24 degrees by Tuesday, likely turning any slush into a sheet of ice overnight.
