Winter Weather — Southern Centre, Pennsylvania

2025-01-03 · Southern Centre, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

SNOW SQUALL. A snow squall impacted portions of Interstate 99 in Southern Centre County during the afternoon of January 3rd, 2025. The RWIS station at mile marker 63.5 on Interstate 99 recorded a visibility drop to below 1/4 mile and road surface temperatures fell from 32 degrees to 28 degrees.

Wider weather episode

A surface cold front with marginal instability allowed for snow squalls and bands of heavy snow showers to form across central Pennsylvania during the evening hours of January 3, 2025. These snow squalls were exacerbated by road temperatures just above freezing ahead of the squalls, allowing for road temperatures to quickly drop below freezing and flash freeze potential to increase as the event progressed. A pile-up occurred on Interstate 81 in Lebanon County, with one resultant injury reported. Heavy snow bands also caused incidents in Cumberland and Centre Counties, with no injuries reported from these incidents.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1224374. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.