Power Outage in Altoona, PA

Snow changed to freezing rain during the afternoon on the 26th and resulted in significant winter weather impacts during the pre-Thanksgiving holiday travel. These included multiple vehicle accidents, road closures, downed trees/wires and power outages. A prolonged period of freezing rain produced ice accumulations between 0.25 and 0.50 inch by nightfall.

High winds knocked down several trees with scattered power outages reported county-wide. A few structures sustained minor damage.

Thunderstorm winds estimated near 60 mph downed trees and wires near Altoona. Several power outages were also reported.

Non-thunderstorm wind gusts between 55 and 65 mph toppled numerous trees and power lines across Blair County. The high winds ripped a roof off of a school and caused severe damage to an adjacent church in Duncansville. Downed trees closed roads in the city of Altoona, where high wind damage was rather extensive based on insurance claims. Some residents were without power for several days.

A cold front crossed the Mid-Atlantic area during the evening hours of February 12th, with a line of low-topped showers and thunderstorms developing along the front. This line was able to mix down strong winds from just off the surface, and produced a swath of 60 mph winds that knocked down trees and power lines from the Laurel Highlands eastward across the south-central mountains.

The first significant winter storm of the 2013-2014 winter season brought a mixed bag of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain to central Pennsylvania, just in time to adversely impact the pre-Thanksgiving travel. A strengthening low pressure area over the southeast states on 11/26 moved northeast across NJ on 11/27. Snow spread into the area rather quickly after midnight on the 26th with light accumulations over the southwest and central areas by mid-day. As warmer air moved in aloft, the snow changed to sleet and freezing rain during the afternoon with freezing rain and rain continuing across much of the area overnight. A transition back to snow was observed later on the 27th before the wintry precipitation ended. Snow accumulations were variable from 1 to 5 inches over central and south-central mountains to in excess of 6 inches in Warren County. Significant icing due to a prolonged period of freezing rain was measured over central and southwest areas with ice accumulations between 0.25 and 0.50 inch. After a relatively brief period of mixed wintry precipitation early in the day on the 26th, eastern areas such as the lower Susquehanna valley picked up between 1.5 to 2 inches of rain from the event. The adverse weather caused hazardous and even dangerous driving conditions across much of the area, resulting in numerous vehicle accidents. The pre-Thanksgiving increase in travel activity was a significant concern. The heavy icing caused trees and limbs to fall bringing down wires and sponsoring power outages. Many schools were closed over the central and western areas on 11/26.

High winds associated with a strong low pressure system (formerly Hurricane Ike) and sharp cold front produced widespread wind damage across central Pennsylvania. The damage occurred a few hours either side of midnight on the 15th in the wake of the cold front. ||Non-thunderstorm wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph downed numerous trees and wires, which resulted in over 300,000 power outages across the state. A few minor injuries related to the downed trees were reported during this event.

Non-convective winds associated with a strong low pressure system brought down trees and wires across western Pennsylvania, causing thousands of power outages. The majority of the outages were in high elevation areas served by Penelec and Allegheny Power.

Thunderstorm winds knocked down 5 trees on West Loop Road in Hollidaysburg. Several power lines were also down.