Waking up tomorrow, turning on the news and seeing that school is canceled due to a lot of snow will be a big disappointment to the students who discover the rumors of snow turned out to be rumors.
According to earth science teacher, David Bender, Penn Manor’s unofficial meteorologist, the district will see a very small amount of snow tomorrow, just a dusting to an inch, if that.
A low pressure system is creeping in from central Canada, carrying with it only little moisture. The system will pass just south of Pennsylvania towards the coast. Snow will start falling late tonight where only a dusting will be seen, according to Bender.
“The Great Lakes are the only thing fueling this system right now and won’t flare up until it gets to the ocean,” he said.
The system will become a secondary low pressure system when it reaches the ocean where more evaporation will take place and moisture will build up. This is when it will crank up and most of the snow or snow squalls will come (morning to early afternoon).
“Areas south of the Turnpike will accumulate a dusting to an inch, but when the system becomes a secondary low and there is something like a high pressure system further out in the ocean to block it,” Bender explained, “more snow will be dumped since the low will hang around longer and strengthen.”
The science teacher continued, “I’ll give it a 20 percent chance at the best for this to occur.”
“I don’t expect a delay or an early dismissal tomorrow,” Bender stated.
This snow storm doesn’t seem too promising but the weather coming next week seems to have more activity with a possibility of snow.
Bender explained that when a system starts out west, dips south toward the gulf and starts up the coast, a larger chance of a bigger snowfall will occur. If the system does not travel far enough south, the moisture will gather further north in the Atlantic ocean and miss Pennsylvania as it completes the rotation coming back into the US.
By Cree Bleacher and Kyle Hallett
Does anyone else notice that every time we ask Bender about snow, he says we’re having school? Probably because, as a teacher, it’s part of his job to tell us we’re having school.