Winter Weather — Mercer, Pennsylvania

2025-12-31 · Mercer, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A PennDot road sensor reported less than 999ft visibility along Interstate 80 and Interstate 79.

Wider weather episode

An upper wave dropping south across the Great Lakes and it's associated cold front brought widespread accumulating snow to the region New Year's Eve and into the new year across the ridges of western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Enhanced orographic lift resulted in higher totals across the Laurel Highlands and eastern West Virginia ridges, with relatively high snow ratios between 18:1 and 21:1. Widespread Advisory level snow was also observed across the region, ranging from 2.5 inches to 5.5 inches outside of the ridges of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A narrow, strong line of convective snow developed along the boundary sinking across the entire county warning area. There were numerous reports of visibility of a quarter mile or less, wind gusts greater than 30 mph, and rapid accumulation on roadways.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1299668. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.