Winter will be arriving with a vengeance this week
When winter officially lands on our doorsteps Wednesday at 4:48 p.m., its arrival will be muted, with a daytime high temperature of 42 degrees. That’s nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.
But this weekend, look out – there will be no mistaking that Old Man Winter is here, and will be making life rough for Santa and his reindeer when they make their rounds.
Rain is forecast to turn to snow Friday, and the white stuff will be accompanied by some howling winds. The temperature will also tumble into the single digits. The forecast high temperature for Saturday will be a bone-chilling 14 degrees, improving only slightly to 18 degrees on Christmas Day.
Winter will be hard to ignore in the immediate future, but days more like what you would find at the North Pole are not going to be our fate for the next three months. According to Jared Rackley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Moon Township, this winter could well be a lot like last winter, with precipitation a little above average and the average temperature also a little above average.
The temperature during any given stretch will determine the form of the precipitation, Rackley added.
“Some of this could be rain, some of it could be snow,” he explained.
La Nina is the cooling of the Pacific Ocean along the tropical west coast of South America, and the phenomenon has influenced the way winter played out last year and the year before. This is the first time La Nina has been in the Pacific in three successive winters since 1999, 2000 and 2001, Rackley said. Before that, there were three successive La Nina winters in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
For homeowners, the arrival of winter entails having snow blowers, shovels, gloves and salt for sidewalks and driveways handy. Municipalities and agencies like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) also need to be certain as winter arrives that they have sufficient supplies of road salt to make it through the next three months.
“We’re adequately stocked for the winter,” according to Melissa Maczko, the safety press officer for PennDOT District 12, which encompasses Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties. PennDOT determines how much salt to purchase based on the severity of recent winters, Maczko said.
In North Strabane in Washington County, the public works department has received 2,500 tons of salt for the winter season, according to Colleen Mellor, the township’s assistant public works director. Unlike many other products over the last couple of years, there hasn’t been a problem with getting salt, but like a lot of products, its price has gone up – it’s now $10 more per ton compared to last year.
“We’re completely loaded with salt,” Mellor said. “We’ve already been out a couple of times.”
There are about 17 miles worth of streets and roads within Waynesburg that the borough keeps dry and clear during the winter, according to Bryan Cumberledge, the street department manager. The borough orders a minimum of 220 tons of salt per year, and has to pay more if it goes over 670 tons.
South Union Township in Fayette County has about 2,800 tons of salt ready to apply, according to Jason Scott, a township supervisor.
“We always stock up,” Scott said. “You have to guesstimate how much you need every year. But that’s the gamble you take.”