A late-season snow event impacted south-central Pennsylvania with moderate amounts in the 3 to 6 inch range.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS CTP wrote it up.
A late-season snow event impacted south-central Pennsylvania with moderate amounts in the 3 to 6 inch range.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 18, 11:33 PM EST, 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 1233 AM EDT THU MAR 19 2015 .SYNOPSIS... HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE GREAT LAKES WILL BUILD EAST INTO PENNSYLVANIA TODAY. AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK SOUTH OF PENNSYLVANIA FRIDAY...FOLLOWED BY THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT SATURDAY. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 8 AM THIS MORNING/... MCLEAR SKIES AND A DIMINISHING WIND ASSOC WITH ARRIVAL OF SFC HIGH WILL ALLOW TEMPS TO FALL STEADILY THRU SUNRISE. LATE AFTN DWPTS AND LATEST RAP OUTPUT SUGGEST SOME OF THE NORMALLY COLDER VALLEYS ACROSS THE NW COUNTIES COULD DIP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS. HOWEVER...A BLEND OF LATEST LAMP AND RAP SUGGEST AVERAGE READINGS BY DAWN WILL RANGE FROM THE LTEENS ACROSS THE N MTNS...TO THE M20S IN THE SOUTHERN VALLEYS. IR LOOP SUGGESTS THE SW COUNTIES WILL BE ON THE EDGE OF CIRRUS SHIELD EARLY THIS MORNING...WHILE CLEAR SKIES PREVAIL ELSEWHERE. && .SHORT TERM /8 AM THIS MORNING THROUGH 6 PM FRIDAY/... SFC HIGH WILL PASS OVER THE STATE TODAY...MAINTAINING FAIR AND COOL WEATHER WITH LGT WIND. UPSTREAM SATL IMAGERY AND 00Z MDL 500-300MB RH FIELDS SUGGEST CIRRUS WILL DIM THE SUN ACROSS SOUTHERN PA...WHILE BRIGHT SKIES PREVAIL FURTHER NORTH. ENS MEAN 925/850MB TEMPS SHOULD SUPPORT MAX TEMPS FROM THE MID 30S OVR THE N MTNS TO THE 40S ELSEWHERE. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... CONTINUED INCREASE FOR CONFIDENCE FOR SNOW FRIDAY. ESPECIALLY SINCE ALL MODEL GUIDANCE TRACKS FAST-MOVING SHORTWAVE THRU THE AREA. THE SFC LOW DOES REMAIN WEAK AS IT TRACKS SOUTH OF THE MASON DIXON LINE...COMBINATION OF WEAK SFC LOW AND HIGH OFF THE NEW ENG COAST SHOULD CREATE ENOUGH SOUTHERLY FLOW/OVERRUNNING FOR A LIGHT TO MOD PRECIP EVENT...ESPECIALLY IN THE PRE DAWN HOURS OVER THE LAURELS. THE BIGGEST CAVEAT TO SNOWFALL THROUGH THE LAURELS DURING THIS TIMEFRAME IS TEMPS ALOFT. HOWEVER CONSIDERING THE OVERRUNNING AND THAT IT WILL WET BULB TO THE DEWPOINT...EXPECT THAT...WHILE A MORE SATURATED SNOW...IT WILL BE AN INCREASE IN AMOUNT. THE LATEST HPC GUIDANCE HAS THE EPICENTER ALONG THE LAURELS...HOWEVER GIVE THE SPEED OF THE SYSTEM...AND THAT THE SNOW SNOW SHOULD END QUICKLY ONCE THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SWINGS THROUGH AROUND 00Z SATURDAY. THE 12Z OPERATIONAL EC/GEFS/GFS HAS INCREASED QPF FROM 00Z FRIDAY TO 00Z SATURDAY. SO CONFIDENCE IS HIGHER FOR LARGER AMOUNTS. HOWEVER I DID TEMPER THEM CONSIDERING THE POSSIBLE WET GROUND DUE TO RAIN STILL POSSIBLE EARLY IN THE EVENT...HIGHER DAYTIME TEMPERATURES AND WET SNOW. HOWEVER GIVEN THE INCREASED QPF...THE NATURE OF MILLER TYPE B EVENTS AND OVERALL STRENGTH OF THE SYSTEM...HAVE INCREASED SNOWFALL AMOUNTS. THE CONSALL QPF AND ASSUMPTION OF SNOW/WATER RATIOS SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN 10/1 TRANSLATE TO LIKELY SNOW TOTALS OF 2-4 INCHES ACROSS A LARGE PORTION OF CENTRAL PA...WITH A SWATH OF 4 TO 6 INCHES THROUGH A PORTION OF SOUTHERN CENTRAL PA. GIVEN THE TIME OF YEAR AND MARGINAL SFC TEMPS...MUCH OF THE ACCUM WOULD LIKELY BE ON NON- PAVEMENT SURFACES. AS IS TYPICAL THIS TIME OF YEAR...DAYTIME SNOW ACCUMS WILL LIKELY BE ELEVATION DEPENDENT...WITH THE HIGHEST AMTS ON THE RIDGETOPS. A FAIR AMT OF AGREEMENT THRU NEXT WEEKEND AMONG MED RANGE GUIDANCE...ALL OF WHICH INDICATE A DEEP TROUGH FORMING OVR THE NORTHEAST CONUS IN RESPONSE TO BUILDING RIDGE ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 12Z GFS/CANADIAN/ECMWF ALL INDICATE PASSAGE OF A SHARP COLD FRONT ON SATURDAY...FOLLOWED BY WELL BLW NORMAL TEMPS SUNDAY/MONDAY. && .AVIATION /04Z THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... WINDS STILL UP A LITTLE HIGHER THAN I EXPECTED. WILL MAKE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE 03Z TAFS. OVERALL WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO WEAKEN OVERNIGHT. LOOKING AT VFR CONDITIONS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY...WITH JUST SOME HIGH CLDS. CLOUDS WILL INCREASE FROM THE SOUTHWEST THURSDAY NIGHT...THEN LOWER AND THICKEN UP LATE WITH SNOW SPREADING INTO THE SW ZONES AROUND OR SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...AND LIKELY REACHING THE TAF SITES /KBFD...KUNV AND KMDT/ BETWEEN 09-12Z FRIDAY. MVFR TO IFR EXPECTED FOR MUCH OF FRIDAY IN PERIODS OF SNOW...POSSIBLY MIXED WITH RAIN AT TIMES IN THE LOWER SUSQ VALLEY DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. EXPECT BULK OF THE PRECIPITATION TO BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW...AS TEMPS AT 850 MB COOL DURING THE EVENT...AS LOW TRANSFERS TO THE COAST. THIS MAKES SENSE...GIVEN HOW DRY THE AIRMASS IS...AND THAT UPWARD MOTION WILL COOL THE AIRMASS. MOST OF THE SNOW WILL BE EAST OF THE AREA BY 00Z SAT...EARLIER ACROSS THE FAR WEST. OUTLOOK... THU NGT-FRI...MVFR/IFR LIKELY DEVELOPING IN SN ASSOCD WITH LOW PRES TRACKING NE TO THE MID-ATLC/NORTHEAST COAST. FRIDAY NIGHT...LINGERING DRIZZLE...FREEZING DRIZZLE OR LIGHT SNOW EARLY AS LOW PRESSURE DEPARTS EAST OF THE MID ATL COAST WITH IFR TO LIFR STRATUS CIGS/VSBYS...AND LIGHT/VARIABLE WIND. SAT...MAINLY VFR...BUT MVFR/IFR PSBL NW IN -SHSN. SUN-MON...MAINLY VFR. && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...DEVOIR NEAR TERM...FITZGERALD SHORT TERM...DEVOIR/FITZGERALD LONG TERM...FITZGERALD/CERU AVIATION...MARTIN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 347 PM EDT WED MAR 18 2015 PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-192000- WARREN-MCKEAN-POTTER-ELK-CAMERON-NORTHERN CLINTON-CLEARFIELD- NORTHERN CENTRE-SOUTHERN CENTRE-CAMBRIA-BLAIR-HUNTINGDON-MIFFLIN- JUNIATA-SOMERSET-BEDFORD-FULTON-FRANKLIN-TIOGA-NORTHERN LYCOMING- SULLIVAN-SOUTHERN CLINTON-SOUTHERN LYCOMING-UNION-SNYDER-MONTOUR- NORTHUMBERLAND-COLUMBIA-PERRY-DAUPHIN-SCHUYLKILL-LEBANON-CUMBERLAND- ADAMS-YORK-LANCASTER- 347 PM EDT WED MAR 18 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. A STORM SYSTEM TRACKING SOUTH OF PENNSYLVANIA WILL PRODUCE A FEW INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS THE REGION THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY...MAINLY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TIER AND RIDGE AND VALLEY REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall amounts of 6 inches were reported across the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, March 2015
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 567514.