PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The latest updates on Tuesday’s powerful nor’easter pummeling eastern and northern Pennsylvania:
7 p.m.
Authorities say the storm that dropped close to two feet of snow in many areas - and more than that in some places - also produced a few small avalanches that blocked roads and briefly trapped one driver.
David Elmore, deputy coordinator of the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency, said the motorist trapped in Duryea was quickly freed by emergency workers and was uninjured. Tunkhannock Township’s supervisor, Randy White, said crews also cleared snow from roads after two avalanches in rock-cut areas that also caused no injuries.
The Philadelphia public school district announced that schools would be open Wednesday on a normal schedule, while the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said high schools and parochial elementary schools would operate on a two-hour delay. A number of other school districts, including those in Allentown, Bethlehem and Reading, have announced that they will be closed Wednesday, and other districts announced delayed openings.
Officials said mass transit services in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties in northeastern Pennsylvania would not be operating Wednesday due to the storm.
State transportation officials have been warning motorists to beware of ice on the roads as melting snow refreezes during chilly temperatures expected overnight.
___
5 p.m.
Pennsylvania highway officials are lifting restrictions on a section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike as a snowstorm that dumped as much as 30 inches on northern Pennsylvania loses force.
Highway officials said Tuesday that they lifted vehicle and speed restrictions on the turnpike west of the Morgantown exit. There have been no major road closures, but state officials warn that travel conditions could remain treacherous through the night, with winds picking up and temperatures dropping.
Vehicle and speed restrictions remain in place on I-80, 81, 83, 84, 176, 283, 380 and 476, and on all non-interstate expressways. Speed limits are 45 and prohibited are empty trailers, while towed trailers, buses, RVs and motorcycles. I-84 is closed to trucks.
National Weather Service storm warnings last as late as 10 p.m. in central and eastern Pennsylvania.
Power outages were scatted, while more than 500 flights combined have been cancelled at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh international airports.
___
4:30 p.m.
More areas are reporting at least 20 inches of snow in northern Pennsylvania, and some are reporting more than two feet of snow as flakes continue to fall over the much of the state.
The National Weather Service said Tuesday that areas in Bradford, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties were reporting more than 20 inches of snow. Reports show as much as 30 inches in Damascus in Wayne County, and about 26 inches in parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
The National Weather Service says the snowfall record at its official climate site in Scranton is barely 3 inches. More than a foot fell in many other areas of eastern Pennsylvania.
National Weather Service storm warnings last into Tuesday night across eastern Pennsylvania. There have been no major road closures, but state officials say travel conditions remain treacherous, with winds picking up and temperatures dropping.
___
3 p.m.
Restrictions have been lifted on some highways in central Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area as a snowstorm that dumped more than 20 inches starts to lose force.
Highway officials said Tuesday that they lifted vehicle and speed restrictions on interstates west of I-81, and on I-95 and 476 in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Vehicle and speed restrictions remain in place on I-81 and Interstates east of 81, including I-80, 83, 84, 176, 283, 380 and 476, and on all non-interstate expressways.
Speed limits are 45 and prohibited are empty trailers, while towed trailers, buses, RVs and motorcycles. I-84 is closed to trucks.
National Weather Service storm warnings last into Tuesday night across eastern Pennsylvania. There have been no major road closures, but state officials say travel conditions remain treacherous, with winds picking up and temperatures dropping.
___
2:30 p.m.
Gov. Tom Wolf says a 23-month-old child in need of a heart transplant was escorted by state snowplows and troopers through a heavy snowstorm from one hospital to another in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Wolf said the Tuesday afternoon trip was made between hospitals in East Stroudsburg and Danville, some 80 miles apart. The storm dropped more than 20 inches of snow and sleet in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, and snow continues to fall.
National Weather Service storm warnings last into Tuesday night across eastern Pennsylvania. There have been no major road closures, but state officials say travel conditions remain treacherous, with winds picking up and temperatures dropping.
Power outages were scatted, while more than 500 flights combined have been cancelled at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh international airports.
Speed limits are reduced to 45 mph on many interstates and expressways in eastern Pennsylvania. I-84 is closed to trucks and empty trailers, while towed trailers, buses, RVs and motorcycles are banned from roadways with speed restrictions.
___
2 p.m.
Don Zimmerman says he thought winter was done when temperatures hit 60 or 65 degrees, and the retired gumball machine refiller calls the 16 inches or so of snow in his suburb of Harrisburg “a real kick in the rear.”
Zimmerman was using a snowblower to clear the sidewalk along his block in Lemoyne on Tuesday afternoon.
A few doors down, 2-year-old Brayden was busy losing his gloves in his first experience with a big snowstorm. His grandmother, Kim Fickes, says digging out isn’t going to be “a one-day event” and smart people will take their time “instead of being rushed to the hospital.”
Another Lemoyne resident, Doug Miller, got up on his roof with a shovel to prevent ice from damming or his roof from collapsing.
Snow mixed with sleet continues to fall across much of Pennsylvania, and more than 20 inches of snow fell in some parts of eastern Pennsylvania.
___
1 p.m.
The snowstorm dropping more than 20 inches of snow in some parts of eastern Pennsylvania has succeeded in shutting down Billy’s Downtown Diner in Bethlehem for the first time in 18 years.
The Morning Call of Allentown reports (https://bit.ly/2mG5hxK ) that the restaurant that’s walking distance from both Lehigh University and Moravian College has stayed open through ice storms, blizzards and hurricanes. But owner Billy Kounoupis says no customers came Tuesday, even though his employees made it into work.
Snow mixed with sleet continues to fall across much of Pennsylvania, with the heaviest accumulations in southcentral Pennsylvania and northeastern Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is reporting that all interstates are open at this hour, although speed limits are reduced to 45 mph on all interstates and expressways east of central Pennsylvania’s Interstate 99. Pennsylvania is also banning trucks from Interstate 84.
More than 500 flights combined have been cancelled at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh international airports.
___
12:15 p.m.
Snowfall totals are now exceeding 20 inches in some places in northeastern Pennsylvania as snow continues to fall across much of the state.
The National Weather Service said 23 inches had fallen in Mount Pocono, and 20 inches in Wilkes-Barre as of early Tuesday afternoon.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is reporting that all interstates are open at this hour, while hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Philadelphia International Airport.
There are scattered power outages and highway officials say there haven’t been any major emergencies on interstates.
___
11:45 a.m.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is reporting that all interstates are open at this hour.
Snow continues to fall across much of Pennsylvania, accumulating to more than a foot in some places. The heaviest snow in Pennsylvania fell in a swath from the Gettysburg area near the Maryland line in the south, straight north to New York, and northeast to the Pocono Mountains, the Lehigh Valley and the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region.
There are scattered power outages.
Highway officials say there haven’t been any major issues on interstates.
___
10:45 a.m.
Pennsylvania is banning trucks from Interstate 84 as a heavy snowstorm has blanketed the state’s northeastern corner.
Trucks are still allowed on Interstate 81, but authorities are telling truckers they shouldn’t head into New York, where trucks aren’t currently allowed on I-81.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission says as of about 10:30 a.m. there were some 2,400 customers without power from storm-related outages. They were scattered but mostly located in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The heaviest snow in Pennsylvania fell overnight in a swath from the Gettysburg area near the Maryland line in the south, straight north to New York, and northeast to the Pocono Mountains, the Lehigh Valley and the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region.
Pittsburgh is missing the brunt of the storm. It’s a rare break this winter for western Pennsylvania, where a series of storms fueled by unfrozen Lake Erie have drawn down supplies of the material the state Department of Transportation spreads on icy roadways.
In the state’s northern tier, nearly 16 inches were reported to the National Weather Service before 9 a.m. in a rural area between Towanda and Mansfield. Farther south, about a foot of snow had fallen in Harrisburg, and about a foot in Bloomsburg.
The state highway department says most of its 2,000 plow trucks and 4,800 operators have been clearing the snowfall over the past day. PennDOT has dispatched mobile equipment teams with five trucks, 10 operators and a supervisor from western Pennsylvania to Scranton, Stroudsburg and the Allentown region.
Highway officials say there haven’t been any major issues on interstates, although trucks have become stuck on ramps along Interstate 78 and Interstate 83.
___
9:15 a.m.
The National Weather Service says snow totals from the nor’easter pummeling Pennsylvania might be lower than anticipated in some areas, but that doesn’t mean roads are any less hazardous.
Freezing rain is causing icy conditions Tuesday and travel is still very treacherous, especially along the Interstate 95 corridor, where gusts of up to 40 mph could be expected. Temperatures hovering around freezing are adding to travel woes.
Philadelphia is no longer under a blizzard warning, but many other areas are, including Allentown and communities in the Poconos.
Heavy snow will continue to accumulate through early this afternoon in those areas.
Gusting winds are bringing whiteout conditions and heavy bands of snow could produce 2 to 3 inches per hour in some areas.
Mount Pocono could get as much at 30 inches before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
In Philadelphia, snow totals could reach 6 inches. A wintry mix rain of rain, sleet and snow helped lower initial estimates of a foot or more.
___
7:30 a.m.
A sloppy mix of rain, sleet, snow and gusting wind is pummeling eastern Pennsylvania, causing public transportation delays in Philadelphia and slick surfaces on roadways around the region.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says subways are running Tuesday in Philadelphia and regional rail trains are operating on a Saturday schedule. Buses are rolling but many are being detoured.
SEPTA General Manager Jeff Knueppel says with the ice, wind and snow “it’s going to be a tough travel day.”
The state transportation department says trucks are out salting and plowing, but urge drivers not to hit the roads unless absolutely necessary.
The National Weather Service had initially predicted up to a foot of snow in Philadelphia. But rain and sleet could lead to lower snow accumulation.
Many areas in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos remain under a blizzard warning until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
___
6 a.m.
The National Weather Service says the dividing line between snow and a wintry mix from a nor’easter pushing through eastern Pennsylvania has moved farther inland, cutting down the anticipated snow accumulation in places like Philadelphia but increasing the chance of icing, making for a slippery travel day.
Meteorologist Sarah Johnson says the dividing line between snow and a mix of snow, sleet and rain has pushed west Tuesday morning, from the New Jersey coast into Philadelphia. She says that lowers anticipated snow totals, but increases the threat of icing from sleet and freezing rain along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Johnson warns that strong winds are still expected; the I-95 corridor could get wind gusts of up to 40 mph.
Parts of the Lehigh Valley and Poconos had whiteout conditions Tuesday morning due to blowing snow.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.