Are you tired of winter?
Jack Hughes
Comparison of Uniontown, Buffalo and Bismark in mid December.
Here we are just a few days into winter and already folks are tired of the cold and dreary skies. The forecast for the rest of Christmas week is for temperatures to be above normal and perhaps most of the precipitation will be rain for this week. A few of those days could see temperatures of 50 degrees or higher. Skiers will not like this forecast but remember winter is just beginning and more cold snowy weather is on the way. So far, snowfall has been very light and even in the mountains only a couple of inches have accumulated.
It could be a lot worse. You could live in Buffalo, New York, where lake effect snows have piled up several feet of snow and a few locations not far from Buffalo picking up over 40 inches of snow already. Although Buffalo is not much colder than our area, they get a lot more wind coming off the lake that makes for a colder wind chill.
Worse yet, you could live in Bismarck, North Dakota, where they have had two roaring blizzards already this season and wind chills of 50 below zero. I am sure both Buffalo and Bismarck are nice places, but they do have winters a lot different than southwestern Pennsylvania. Nobody is out skiing at 50 below zero.
It is interesting to note that the afternoon temperature in Bismarck climbed to only -4 on the Dec. 17 before falling back to -30 the morning of the Dec. 18
In the grand scheme of things, southwestern Pennsylvania does not look all that bad and if the forecast is correct, this should be a pretty mild upcoming week for late December.
Best wishes for a great holiday and nice weather ahead.