As predicted, the after-Christmas storm delivered a treacherous mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain — gifts you’d no doubt return if the roads weren’t so messy.
The National Weather Service said each kind of precipitation — though mostly sleet — fell around the Lehigh Valley, coating roads, vehicles and sidewalks in a concrete-hard layer of white under skies that offered sun by mid-morning but little heat to soften things up.
Lehigh Valley International Airport recorded 0.9 inches of snow/sleet and a glaze of freezing rain.
The weather service said temperatures will struggle to reach the freezing mark today — Allentown’s predicted high is 32 degrees — so surfaces are likely to remain slick, especially sidewalks and secondary roads if they haven’t been treated.
Winter weather advisories that were expected to be in effect until 10 a.m. Saturday were allowed to expire as the precipitation tapered off, the weather service said. Earlier predictions of flurries and snow showers in northern parts of the area have also been scrubbed.
With the icy weather gone, a frontal system will bring rain Sunday into Monday. Behind the front, high pressure and colder temperatures will move in. High temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday will be in the low 30s, well below normal for this time of year, according to forecasters.
Monday poses another concern, as the cold front sweeping west to east through the afternoon will bring high winds, with gusts up to 50 mph possible. Monday’s high temperature will be around 51 and some thunder is even possible. The weather service will issue wind advisories if necessary.
How much snow and ice did the Lehigh Valley get? Totals from around the region
Friday’s storm caused some havoc on the highways. By Friday evening, road conditions deteriorated across the region, with several crashes reported. One crash was reported with people trapped inside a vehicle on Route 22 westbound near the Route 309 interchange in South Whitehall Township just after 6 p.m., according to emergency radio dispatches.
Another vehicle was reported to have gone off the road on Route 22 westbound through “Cemetery Curve” in Easton. A two-vehicle crash was reported on Nazareth Pike (Route 191) at the Route 22 interchange in Bethlehem Township, according to the Northampton County Emergency Alerts Facebook page.
Ahead of the storm, PennDOT issued Tier 3 vehicle restrictions on the area’s major highways, prohibiting most commercial vehicles. Those restrictions were lifted just before 6 a.m. Saturday as conditions improved.
Online outage maps from PPL and First Energy showed no major storm-related service disruptions Saturday morning.
Here is the extended forecast from the National Weather Service:
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Breezy.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 34.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23.
New Year’s Day: Partly sunny, with a high near 33.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 16.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 27.
