For once, it appears northwestern Pennsylvania may be getting spared from the worst of winter’s fury.
Much of the rest of Pennsylva-nia, however, braced for the second big storm of the season Friday, as crews salted thousands of miles of roads, schools dismissed early and at least one airline canceled flights in anticipation of a foot or more of snow.
Forecasters called for heavy
snow to start falling across the more southern parts of the state Friday afternoon and into the evening, with 8 to 14 inches anticipated in Pittsburgh and 6 to 12 inches expected in the Philadelphia area.
So if you’re thinking about doing some traveling this weekend, “don’t go south — it’s as simple as that,” said WICU 12 Chief Meteorologist and Trib-une forecaster Rob Wilson.
The National Weather Service’s Cleveland office on Friday issued a winter weather advisory — effective through noon today — for areas immediately south and southeast of Crawford County, including Mercer, Venango and Forest counties. Wilson said only about two or three inches are expected to fall in the Meadville area.
Southwest Airlines canceled flights out of Philadelphia International Airport from Friday afternoon into today. Other flights were booked as people tried to get out before the snow.
Ronald and Carole Weather-ford, of High Point, N.C., were waiting to fly back to Greensboro, N.C., after the book fair they flew up for was canceled. They feared that staying in Philadelphia until Sunday, as they originally planned, could leave them stranded.
The couple didn’t want to get stuck in an airport hotel during a trip scheduled to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
“The weather was very much like this 25 years ago,” said Carole Weatherford, noting that it rained, sleeted and snowed on their wedding day, Feb. 2, 1985, in Baltimore.
Spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said the airport had no plans to close. About 400 workers are ready to do snow removal, she said.
Shawn Reid, 39, of northeast Philadelphia, was sitting at the airport after his flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was overbooked. Trying to get to a Super Bowl party with friends, he failed in several attempts to find another flight to any city even close to Miami — Tampa, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Orlando and even Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
“It was like everything was oversold. Because of the storm, everyone is trying to get out early,” said Reid, as he waited for a ride to take him back home. “I’m very depressed.”
Pittsburgh International Airport also planned to remain open, Allegheny County Airport Authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation trucks have been treating major roadways with a salt brine and will begin spreading granular salt when the snow starts to fall.
“We’ve got more than 2,200 trucks, plows and salt spreaders that are available all around the state,” PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said it’s in constant communication with counties via electronic message boards and conference calls to marshal resources if local officials report any problems.
