National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

A winter weather event impacted the Pittsburgh forecast area on December 17th through the 19th with rain impacting the area during the onset of the event followed by snow showers behind the system. The heaviest rainfall fell to the east of the area with the PBZ forecast area getting around 1.00” inch or less. The low pressure system ended up being a coastal low as it tracked north along the coast during the 17th. At the same time, a strong disturbance along the northern jet stream was crossing the Great Lakes as the surface low tracked up the coast. During the evening of the 17th and overnight through the 18th, rain changed over to snow showers as the passing mentioned disturbance provided some strong cold air advection allow for the favorable wind shift to the northwest and the development of snow showers and snow squalls. The PIT sounding at 00Z on the 19th indicated quite a bit of instability for this event. The higher terrain in PA and WV needed Winter Storm Warnings to address the potential snowfall and Winter Weather Advisories were need for the northern counties and some elevated areas.
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