Heavy Snow — Montour, Pennsylvania

2014-11-25 to 2014-11-26 · Montour, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A high-impact snowfall of 4 to 8 inches affected the area basically from dawn to dusk.

Wider weather episode

A frontal wave of low pressure that originated in the Gulf of Mexico developed into a strong coastal storm as it moved northeast just off the East Coast. This high-impact system brought a wet, moderate-to-heavy snowfall to much of Central Pennsylvania which wreaked havoc on Thanksgiving holiday travelers. The snow expanded from south to north during the early to mid morning hours and continued, heavy at times, through the afternoon before tapering off in the evening. Snowfall amounts generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches with locally higher amounts around a foot on the ridge tops near South Mountain. The precipitation began as rain for areas to the southeast of I-81 before changing to snow, which cut down on storm total amounts. Numerous state offices and schools were closed and multiple flights were delayed or cancelled. The storm could not have come at a worse time on what is typically one of the busiest travel days of the year (day before Thanksgiving). Williamsport set a daily snowfall record of 4.8 inches, which broke the previous record of 1.8 inches set in 2013. The storm made the NESIS scale as a category 1.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 545859. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.