BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Confidence is increasing that the Lehigh Valley could experience a plowable snowfall on Monday, but Old Man Winter is keeping his cards close to the vest.
With the system three days away, the weekend will serve as the calm before the storm, with questions remaining on exactly where it will track and how much snow will fall.
Forecasters say at least a few inches are likely, and it’s not out of the question the Lehigh Valley could see more, with models homing in on two potential solutions: the storm staying a bit further south of the area, decreasing totals, and the other leading to the storm being stronger and further north.
The second solution would increase the potential for widespread snowfall accumulations in the Lehigh Valley area, the National Weather Service said.
Regardless of snowfall amounts, freezing temperatures will let snow stick to surfaces immediately, leading to the possibility of school closings on Monday and an extension for many students still on holiday break.
Here is the latest on the winter storm that is likely to produce widespread heavy snow and ice from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic this weekend into early next week. pic.twitter.com/8THzbCx4CP
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) January 3, 2025
Tracking the storm
The Weather Prediction Center said impacts will begin in the Central Plains by late Saturday, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on Sunday, and the mid-Atlantic region late Sunday night into Monday.
Should the storm shift north, flakes will fly in the Lehigh Valley before sunrise on Monday, with the bulk of the snow coming Monday morning into the afternoon.
The weather service said the highest snowfall totals likely will end up being under a mesoscale enhanced band.
Mesoscale snow bands are a common feature of winter storms and can produce heavy snowfall in a short amount of time, but it can be very difficult to forecast their location.
“The model runs that we have on Friday are going to be a little bit more critical to the forecast,” EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich said in his latest video update.
How much snow could fall?
Martrich said EPAWA Weather Consulting will have a first call snow map on Saturday.
“There’s still some flux with this,” he said of the models.
"It’s still going to move around a little bit. You’re going to see a lot of windshield wiper effect, which means going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.”
Very cold air in the wake of the storm will keep snow cover on the ground for days afterward.
“For the remainder of [next] week, temperatures will remain largely below freezing, even during the daytime, with lows mostly in the teens,” the NWS forecast discussion said.
“Whatever snow that falls through Monday will likely be sticking around for a while. Winds will remain breezy during this period as well.”
Daytime wind chills will max out only around 20 degrees, falling as low as the single digits overnight for the long term, the weather service said.
