Are we getting pounded with snow this weekend or not?
It's still unclear.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh tweeted Friday morning that people north of Interstate 80 and in eastern Ohio will likely get heavy snow, while predicting the weather in southwestern Pennsylvania is more difficult.
A winter storm watch from the weather service predicts 2 to 8 inches in Allegheny County and other southwestern Pennsylvania counties from Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon. Though, this chart seems to indicate that closer to 6 inches are expected:
If you have not checked our winter page https://t.co/MfIlo9xz49 please do so there is a lot of good information. We have this table under the Probabilistic Snow forecast tab that breaks down the range for everyone of our counties #Pittsburgh #snow pic.twitter.com/nqHJyAZ4QR
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) January 18, 2019
Furthermore, the Weather Channel's forecast puts Saturday snow totals at about 1 to 3 inches, with a rain-snow mixture throughout the day. Saturday night calls for 100 percent chance of snow, with about 1 inch of accumulation.
Gov. Tom Wolf has declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm.
Today at 3:15 PM, @GovernorTomWolf and @ReadyPA officials will speak about #WinterStormHarper and outline state preparations for this weekend. Watch live at https://t.co/EGQoferwe6 . #PAWinter
— Office of the Governor (@GovernorsOffice) January 18, 2019
At a Friday press conference, Pittsburgh Public Works Director Mike Gable said accumulation could be anywhere between 1 and 12 inches.
But, he said Public Works has enough salt and resources to treat up to 20 inches.
“We’re rolling out a lot of our smaller equipment like tractors with plows, even smaller tractors, just in case we’ve got to get into some smaller streets the pickup trucks can’t get into,” Gable said.
However, the city's snowplow tracker isn't working. KDKA-TV reports it's down for maintenence and will likely be back up at the end of the month. In the meantime, Public Works will provide general updates on Twitter.
Gable said he’s aware that there’s anxiety around town because of the uncertainty of snow accumulation. But, Gable said the best thing people can do is stay off the roads as much as possible.
“They’re just putting themselves in jeopardy, and it’s not giving our crews the opportunity to get to the streets we need to get around to,” Gable said.
Gable said it looks like any snow will stop by Sunday, giving Public Works enough time to clear the roads by the end of the holiday weekend.
Additionally, Amtrak has canceled some trains on its New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg route ahead of the storm. CNN reports that hundreds of flights across the country have also been canceled.
*This story was updated at 1:22 p.m. to include updated information.
