A winter storm of snow, sleet and freezing rain hit the area early Saturday morning. It has left an inch or two of snow on the ground so far, and could could dump as much as six inches of snow in the metropolitan area by the evening.
The National Weather Service predicted 4 to 6 inches in most areas around the city before the snow stops in the afternoon.
The wintry weather has made roads slippery and caused some delays at regional airports. The New Jersey Turnpike lowered teh speed limit to 45 MPH due to the weather.
Saturday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city had 1,500 snowplows ready and they were equipped with GPS to allow supervisors to update locations on command maps every 30 seconds. The new equipment was installed following December 2010's blizzard.
The city's sanitation department spokesman Vito Turso said the GPS will also allow dispatchers to see areas that have been plowed and those still in need of plowing. Additionally, he said the department has 230,000 tons of rock salt at the ready.
Earlier in the morning, another I-70 accident involving a tractor-trailer precipitated the closure of lanes but that crash scene has been cleared and traffic is moving normally there.
By 8 a.m. or so, most of the precipitation had ended in the region and none is predicted for the rest of the weekend.
A high of 30 degrees is forecast for today and after a low of 20 overnight the temperature will rocket to the lower 40s Sunday. That, combined with a low of about 40 degrees Sunday night, means "a significant amount of the snow will melt by Monday," Mr. Hendricks said.
As for the storm, Mr. Hendricks described it "a location dependent situation."
"Generally, the area from Beaver County, the northern two-thirds of Allegheny County and Westmoreland north was all snow. South of that line, down to the Mason-Dixon line, was freezing rain and sleet and points south from there was primarily rain."
Because of that, snow accummulations varied greatly. While West Mifflin recorded only 1 inch and Bridgeville 2 inches by 7 a.m., Shadyside saw 4 inches, West View, Ross and McCandless had 5 inches and Wexford experiended 6 1/2 inches.
Meanwhile, 7 inches was recorded in Aliquippa, Monaca and Hookstown and 5 inches fell in Cranberry while New Kensington had 3 inches of snow and Monessen had nearly a half inch of ice.
The National Weather Service predicted 4 to 6 inches in most areas around the city before the snow stops in the afternoon.
The wintry weather has made roads slippery and caused some delays at regional airports. The New Jersey Turnpike lowered teh speed limit to 45 MPH due to the weather.
Saturday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city had 1,500 snowplows ready and they were equipped with GPS to allow supervisors to update locations on command maps every 30 seconds. The new equipment was installed following December 2010's blizzard.
The city's sanitation department spokesman Vito Turso said the GPS will also allow dispatchers to see areas that have been plowed and those still in need of plowing. Additionally, he said the department has 230,000 tons of rock salt at the ready.
Earlier in the morning, another I-70 accident involving a tractor-trailer precipitated the closure of lanes but that crash scene has been cleared and traffic is moving normally there.
By 8 a.m. or so, most of the precipitation had ended in the region and none is predicted for the rest of the weekend.
A high of 30 degrees is forecast for today and after a low of 20 overnight the temperature will rocket to the lower 40s Sunday. That, combined with a low of about 40 degrees Sunday night, means "a significant amount of the snow will melt by Monday," Mr. Hendricks said.
As for the storm, Mr. Hendricks described it "a location dependent situation."
"Generally, the area from Beaver County, the northern two-thirds of Allegheny County and Westmoreland north was all snow. South of that line, down to the Mason-Dixon line, was freezing rain and sleet and points south from there was primarily rain."
Because of that, snow accummulations varied greatly. While West Mifflin recorded only 1 inch and Bridgeville 2 inches by 7 a.m., Shadyside saw 4 inches, West View, Ross and McCandless had 5 inches and Wexford experiended 6 1/2 inches.
Meanwhile, 7 inches was recorded in Aliquippa, Monaca and Hookstown and 5 inches fell in Cranberry while New Kensington had 3 inches of snow and Monessen had nearly a half inch of ice.
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