Wet, Wild Christmas Eve in the Offing
LOCK HAVEN, PA – With snow clean-up continuing across Clinton County on Monday, the first day of winter, we should all cast an eye towards Christmas Eve when the weather folks say the problem could very well be rain, not snow. And if a battering, day-before-Christmas storm isn’t enough, a deep freeze is to follow on Christmas day.
“A potent storm will slowly move across much of the eastern U.S. Christmas Eve during the day and on Christmas itself,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Jessica Storm.
“Ahead of the storm, milder air and a lot of moisture will surge northward along gusty winds. The storm will tap into all this moisture to spread drenching rain across a large swath of the East.”
AccuWeather says there is up to three inches of rain locked in the snow cover across much of Pennsylvania. AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said, “Combined with another 2 or 3 inches of rain and mild temperatures, all of that could melt and run off quickly and cause some significant flooding issues in the region.”
After the rain comes the Arctic air. The State College-based weather service said as temperatures quickly crash on the backside of this storm system, all of the standing water that could develop from the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic through the Northeast could then turn into a sheet of ice.
