BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Snow and freezing temperatures brought slick roads and travel disruptions to the region overnight, prompting school closures and giving some kids a four-day weekend.
Bethlehem Area, Northampton Area, East Penn, Salisbury and Nazareth Area school districts announced closures Monday night.
Other districts, such as Allentown and Easton, opted for a flexible instruction day.
Early Tuesday, the forecast that had bumped snow totals to an estimated 4 to 6 inches for the Lehigh Valley appeared to be on track.
“The coastal front and the low pressure developing along it will continue to produce wintry weather for much of the area this morning before tapering off from southwest to northeast this afternoon,” the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast discussion.
Expect roads, especially untreated and secondary roads, to be slick early this morning. Where precipitation ends, travel conditions should gradually improve, but temps will remain near or below freezing from I-95 NW through today, so remain cautious. https://t.co/nWh5PV6MBX
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 16, 2024
The state Transportation Department temporarily reduced the speed limit to 45 mph on several roadways in the region, and urged motorists to avoid unnecessary travel.
The affected highways were:
- Interstate 78 in Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties;
- Interstate 80 in Carbon and Monroe counties;
- Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County;
- Interstate 380 in Monroe County;
- U.S. 22 in Lehigh and Northampton counties;
- PA 33 in Monroe and Northampton counties.
Around 8:30 a.m., Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) said it would operate its LANtaBus division on its Snow Emergency Route schedule all day Tuesday.
LANtaVan is providing service for dialysis trips only, it said in a release. All Carbon Transit service has been cancelled.
A snow surplus?
“Wanna hear something crazy? If Allentown/Lehigh Valley International Airport records greater than 3.6 inches from the incoming system, even with how ‘meh’ the winter has been so far, the Lehigh Valley will be at a SURPLUS in year-to-date snowfall through" Tuesday, EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich tweeted on Monday.
By Monday night, the measurement stood at 6.4 inches for January — 2.5 inches above normal.
Another system is possible Friday as our cold and active weather pattern marches on.
The weather service called the end of the week “the most challenging portion of the forecast” and said the latest ensemble guidance “is very tightly clustered around amounts of 1 to 3 inches across our region.”
In other words, the overall pattern projected by the model guidance is not supportive of a major storm.
“Cloudy with snow or snow showers likely,” Martrich said jokingly in his latest video forecast, echoing that models were not locked in on any one solution.
EPAWA's 1/16 and week ahead outlook, covering:
— Bobby Martrich | EPAWA (@epawawx) January 16, 2024
■ Timing the end of the snow and sleet Tuesday
■ Very cold temperatures settle in this entire week
■ A look at the next system coming in on Fridayhttps://t.co/sBIArBnhpP
How cold will it get?
Martrich described the forecast for Wednesday as “the coldest day to this point, as far as high temperatures in the season.”
“All the way up through winter so far, we have never had a high temperature that is going to be as cold as it will be here on Wednesday,” he said.
The weather service described the day as starting off with “a very cold morning” with lows in the teens in the Lehigh Valley and single digits in the far north, including the Poconos.
“We’ll have a mostly sunny day, but highs will struggle to rise out of the mid to upper 20s for most areas,” the forecast discussion said.
Martrich said we could also have a repeat of that on Saturday.
“It might even be colder yet,” he said.
