Algore's Nobel Encore

[Bill Shaw]

Earliest snow on record blankets Poconos, Penn State
By Peter Mucha
Inquirer Staff Writer

Snow showed up historically early - and with a vengeance in northern Pennsylvania, from the Poconos past State College, Pa.

Trees and powerlines are down all over State College this morning because of a heavy, wet snow that started accumulating yesterday, according to meteoroogist Aaron Tyburski of the National Weather Service office there.

Five to six inches was on the ground in some of the higher elevations in north-central Pennsylvania, and nine inches was measured this morning on Center Hall Mountain, a few miles northeast of Penn State's main campus, he said.

In the Poconos, 4.3 inches had fallen by 7 this morning in Tobyhanna, north of Mount Pocono; 3 inches at Lake Harmony, to the southwest.

A second storm system on the way could boost the totals.

"We may see another one or two inches tomorrow," Tyburski said this morning.

Areas further south - even Allentown - just got rain.

Because the trees were still covered with leaves when the storm hit State College, walkers have to worry about falling limbs this morning, Tyburski said.

"You can actually hear them snapping as you walk underneath them," he said.

The snowfall hit three days before the previous record there, set on Oct. 18, 1901, when only one-tenth of an inch fell.

Guess 1901 was the start of Global Warning...