BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The prospects of a major snowstorm in the Lehigh Valley this week faded faster than the probability of a Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory Sunday night.
But it doesn’t mean we’ll completely avoid the parade of wintry weather targeting the region.
Old Man Winter will run an end-around Tuesday night, forecasters predict, putting the Valley in field goal range for what looks to be a relatively minor snow event.
“This is gone by Wednesday morning. Then you get a quick break and the next one is going to come in.”EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich
We’ll be on the northern fringes of a storm system passing well to the south, according to EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich.
The good news is that the storm will bring only snow, after sleet and freezing rain Saturday night left the region with heavy ice accrual.
“This is gone by Wednesday morning," Martrich said in his latest video update. "Then you get a quick break and the next one is going to come in.”
Thursday’s system looks to potentially have snow at the onset — arriving overnight — but Martrich said it will be “another snow-to-slop deal” that could have a “decent thump” of snow for some areas before the changeover.
The models are “all pretty much doing that same thing, where you get that front end snow and then it goes over to sleet and freezing rain again,” he said.
The weekend looks to bring a third storm system through the region, which looks more wet than white at this point.
Matrich said they’re going to address each system “one at a time.”
“There’s just too much here to really focus on all three at once,” he said.
The National Weather Service projects the Lehigh Valley will get about 3 inches of snow between Monday and Thursday, though high end projections if both systems overperform could significantly boost totals.
Legislators pitch road salt reduction bill
Over the past five winters, the state Transportation Department said it has used an average of nearly 600,000 tons of salt to keep roads clear and Pennsylvania drivers moving.
If state legislators have their way, that number will be cut down going forward.
Two Montgomery County officials — Rep. Joe Webster, D-Collegeville, and Rep. Benjamin Sanchez, D-Abington — are circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum on road salt reduction.
The legislators say they soon will introduce a bill, based on Maryland state law, directing PennDOT and the Department of Environmental Protection to collaborate and develop best management practices for the use and reduction of salt to treat roadways during winter storms.
“Other road applications or plowing practices can keep our roads safe for winter driving without putting the environment and wildlife at such a risk."State Rep. Joe Webster, D-Collegeville, and Rep. Benjamin Sanchez, D-Abington
The co-sponsorship memoranda said salt corrodes and destroys infrastructure and vehicles, costing about $5 billion worth of damage in the Unites States each year.
The goal is to move toward more sustainable road salt management practices.
“Other road applications or plowing practices can keep our roads safe for winter driving without putting the environment and wildlife at such a risk,” the legislators wrote.
Maryland uses brine — a liquid solution that is 22% salt and 78% water — and has “tow plows,” which are separate plows towed behind a salt/plow truck used to clear an additional travel lane.
The state also has designated routes where only brine is used for the duration of a storm. It also pre-wets rock salt with brine to reduce the likelihood of salt bouncing on the roadway and scattering to spots where it is less effective.
PennDOT has 65 facilities statewide capable of making their own brine. In the 2021-22 season, it used 12.6 million gallons of salt brine to pre-treat roadways prior to frozen precipitation falling.
