Forecaster: Winter's worst may be behind us

Jim Hook
Chambersburg Public Opinion

STATE COLLEGE -- Judging from Accuweather’s extended forecast for the Chambersburg area, the worst of winter may be over.

Accuweather predicts just two days (Jan. 14 and 15) for the remainder of winter when the daily high temperature will be below freezing.

Some parts of Franklin County on Monday got a scant layer of ice, snow and rain. Washington Township got about a half inch of snow, but the ground cover did not present a problem for motorists driving township roads, according to Manager Jeff Geesaman.

Chambersburg saw just a trace of white stuff. Waynesboro Area and Tuscarora school districts cancelled all after school activities on Monday.

Light snow falls as lineman Keith Rhine works to take down the borough Christmas tree at Chambersburg Memorial Square on Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018.

Salt should remain effective Monday through Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to remain in the mid-20s during Monday night before climbing above freezing on Tuesday. Salt becomes less effective if temperature dip below 25 degrees.

High temperatures on Thursday and Friday will rise into the 50s, according to Accuweather and the National Weather Service.

Temperatures are warming. Sandra Lopez tries to stay warm as she commutes on a chilly Thursday morning, January 4, 2018 in downtown Chambersburg.

Single-digit temperatures interrupted utilities.

About 115 customers of the Chambersburg Electric Department went without power for more than two hours on Sunday after a fuse melted. High loads during the extremely cold weather likely caused the outage, according to Assistant Electric Superintendent Jeff Heverley. Customers in the Nicholson Square neighborhood  primarily use heat pumps as a source of heat.

“It took longer than normal to identify,” Heverley said. “The cutout door did not drop open as it normally would with a blown fuse. After initial inspection did not show this issue, voltage readings were taken and the cause was found.”

Pipes froze early Sunday in the Highlands of Green Village housing development on Applecross Avenue, according to Steven Himes, deputy fire chief of Franklin Fire Company. More than 20 units of the 69 apartments affected in Greene Township were damaged by water.

The recent cold snap was harsh, even a record breaker:

  • Harrisburg got off to the coldest new year since recordkeeping there began in 1889, according to Penn State’s Weather World. The average daily temperature for the first seven days of 2018 was 12 degrees, breaking the previous record of 14.9 degrees in 1968 and 1904. In seventh place was the first week of 2014 at 19.2 degrees.
  • The last time that the thermometer went above freezing in Hagerstown, Maryland, was on Christmas Day. The 13-day run of subfreezing weather did not rival the 62 straight days in 1977-78 when temperatures were 32-degrees or lower. As recently as 2003, Hagerstown had 12 straight days of freezing weather.
  • Nearly 11 feet of snow have fallen on Erie since the beginning of winter.

Jim Hook 717-262-4759