Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, January 25, 2000

Heavy snow spread northwest across Pennsylvania early on Tuesday morning as low pressure moved northward from the North Carolina coast. The storm rapidly took on the characteristics of a classic nor'easter, pulling significant amounts of Atlantic moisture inland across the Middle Atlantic states. Snowfall amounts in central Pennsylvania totaled around a foot along the Maryland border counties from Waynesboro, east across Gettysburg and York to Lancaster. Six inches or more snow fell roughly east of a line from Chambersburg in Franklin County northeast across Mifflintown to Lewisburg and Laporte.Schools were cancelled across much of the area, and travel became treacherous. High winds combined with the snow during the evening to produce near blizzard conditions across the lower Susquehanna region and wind chills fell below zero. Two snow blower trucks were moved into the Harrisburg area from Somerset to assist with opening roads that had drifted shut.The storm moved well west of the previous days forecasts, providing less than 12 hours notice of the heavy snow, and prompting the national as well as local media to label the event a "surprise snowstorm."