As the wind began to howl about 3:30 a.m. Thursday but only a light coating covered sidewalks in Easton, a sudden, vicious onslaught of wet, heavy snow changed all that.
At 6:45 a.m., there were 3.6 inches of snow on the ground in Greenwich Township, according to a spotter, an increase of 1.3 inches in an hour.
The temperature didn't drop below freezing until 5:50 a.m. after record-setting warmth on Wednesday, according to measurements at Lehigh Valley international Airport. It was still 39 degrees at 1:51 a.m.
Roads are treacherous across the region, authorities say. (Tony Rhodin | For lehighvalleylive.com)Schools are closed across the region. A winter storm warning is in place until 4 p.m., the National Weather Service said. It was forecasting 6 to 12 inches of snow. Snow emergencies were declared in many communities.
This is a heart-attack snow. Be careful shoveling and don't clear your clogged snowblower with your hands.
Speed limits have been reduced on major highways in the Lehigh Valley. Issues with wires and transformers were reported by 6 a.m. but area power companies weren't showing major issues on their outage sites. A downed pine tree took out wires at one location, dispatches said.
A jackknifed tractor-trailer was reported about 6:15 on Route 512 outside Bath.
Another wreck happened about 6:25 a.m. on Route 22 West in Hanover Township, Northampton County. It appeared from dispatches that someone was badly hurt. The highway was closed in that direction, a county dispatch supervisor said. Some sections of the highway were snow-covered at that hour.
The Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Bethlehem had three crashes within seven minutes about 5:30 a.m., but they all quickly cleared, a trooper said.
A Lehigh County dispatcher said there were "a bunch of accidents, but nothing out of the ordinary." A Northampton County dispatch supervisor said there weren't any major incidents at that hour, but the "roads are not good."
At the New Jersey State Police barracks in Perryville along Interstate 78 in Hunterdon County, a sergeant, when asked about road conditions, said there was "snow, lots of snow." He had to quickly get off the phone, because "we're getting slammed" with incidents, he said.
A sergeant at the Hope barracks in Warren County was hoping drivers would use common sense and drive at an appropriate speed. "You know how that goes," he said.
At the Belfast barracks near Route 33 in Plainfield Township, there weren't major weather-related problems at 5:30. "Hopefully it will stay that way," a trooper said.
The storm was moving quickly -- estimates are it ends between 9 a.m. and noon. It's back end at 6:45 a.m. was over central Pennsylvania.
We'll update this as things change.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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