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WILKES-BARRE — In like a lion, out like a lamb? Not quite.
Snow has been falling in Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties since about noon on this last day of March and bringing with it the dangers normally associated with mid-winter — slick roads that have led to automobile crashes across the area.
Conditions have been ripe for accidents in higher elevations such as Mountain Top, the Back Mountain and Hazleton, and emergency responders have been dispatched all afternoon to these fender benders, according to a Luzerne County 911 supervisor, including one involving a Luzerne County Transportation Authority bus.
The bus “skated forward” on a slick patch of roadway while slowing for a red light on Route 415 in Dallas on Tuesday afternoon and caused a small chain-reaction crash when it struck the vehicle in front of it, and that vehicle struck another, according to LCTA Acting Executive Director Norm Gavlick.
Only the driver was aboard the bus and Gavlick said he believes no one was injured.
It could be worse
The weather in the Wyoming Valley has transitioned back and forth between occasionally sunny and seasonable weather and cold weather with rain and snow. It has been stuck in limbo for several weeks now, with residents asking a simple question: When will the warm weather be here to stay?
Monday was just another day at work for Mark Abrams. Abrams, 46, of Clifford, is a road worker with TSE Inc. He was working with several colleagues on Union Street, and said working in Luzerne County is at least warmer than working in Susquehanna County.
He said there is at least a 10-degree difference between the two counties, with Luzerne County being the warmer of the two.
“The older I get, the more I hate the cold,” he said.
Hot and cold
WNEP meteorologist Tom Clark said fluctuating weather is typical for this time of the year.
“We’re still in the transition between late winter and early spring, summer weather,” he said. “The cold air doesn’t give up that easily. When it’s pushed out of town, it wants to come back into town again. That’s pretty typical with how the atmosphere works.”
That transitional period will be apparent this week.
Clark said the Wyoming Valley is getting another small helping of snow today as a polar jet stream brings in a “clipper storm” to southern Pennsylvania. Light snow started falling in Wilkes-Barre shortly before noon.
Clark said clipper storms typically bring small amounts of precipitation — at this time of the year, he said it should be wet snow and rain in the valleys, with snow in higher elevations.
A cold, dry Easter
A year ago this week, Clark said a similar storm impacted the region and dropped 5 to 10 inches of snow in some areas.
This week’s storm, however, will not be a major event. Clark said that the Wyoming Valley could get 1 to 2 inches, while higher elevations south of Interstate 80 could get up to 3 inches.
Temperatures will then quickly warm later this week, with highs reaching the 50s and 60s on some days. Clark said that a southerly flow of air with moisture is the cause of the warmer air, but said the air will also bring a few fronts with it.
With those fronts, Clark said the Wyoming Valley could see some rain on Friday and on Saturday. For Easter Sunday, Clark said it could be a little colder, but added that it should be dry.
Looking ahead
After months of below average temperatures and a frigid winter, Clark said that average highs and lows will continue to trend upward. March’s average so far is 4 degrees below normal, which Clark said is “a pretty good departure.”
April, Clark said, is still on track to be a colder-than-average month.
“We ease our way out of it, but still, you can have your spring jacket one day and need your winter jacket the next,” Clark said.
Abrams and his crew are ready for the cold to finally break and for warmer temperatures to stick around for a while.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I think all of us guys are.”
Times Leader staff writer Steve Mocarsky contributed to this report.