Just my luck the day before my husband and S19 are leaving for a college visit in upstate NY, we get our first winter storm. While we are getting mostly sleet and freezing rain here in my area of MD, the route they are set to take is basically directly up US-15 in central PA, and from what I can tell, it’s supposed to be snowing all night. I am totally unfamiliar with this drive, so just curious what they should expect tomorrow morning. They were planning to drive S19’s sedan but wonder if they should take our 4WD instead? I imagine this route is through the mountains and having driven many times on the PA turnpike in the snow, it’s no fun. Is US-15 heavily traveled? I notice it’s not an interstate so don’t know if it’s a divided highway or not, and whether it is frequently treated/cleared during snowy weather. I think the snow may stop before they get too far into PA but considering the storm has hit MD harder than predicted, I can’t trust what weather.com is showing for PA.
On the bright side, S19 will be getting a taste of what college in upstate NY will be like in the winter!
As one enters PA from MD, 15 is equivalent to a super highway. Once one gets closer to Dillsburg you get lights on it, but it’s still always four laned.
Are you staying on 15 akin to heading toward Rochester or are you heading to Harrisburg to intersect 81? 15 will go from single lane to four lane and highway a few times through there. Around Bucknell it’s single lane. Once past Williamsburg it’s back to being a highway and some of that is even at 70mph speed limit to the NY border.
Tomorrow morning they are calling for this stuff to be totally out of here around 6am (as of this morning’s forecast - I didn’t see the noon update). Since it ends with rain, they were saying they expect the roads to be clear - wet, but clear.
That said, they also had our area in a 1-3 inch forecast area and I just went out to take a gorgeous picture of our pond and evergreens since the first snow is always pretty. We’re at 3-4 inches now with it still snowing…
ps I expect we’ll have a two hour delay tomorrow for school. Today, of course, school is cancelled. If anything changes in the morning I’ll try to remember to update.
I just checked our current forecast online and they are now saying 4-6 inches followed by ice and perhaps more snow in the early morning, then being out of here by 8am. We’ll see what really happens.
I’d say 4WD is a personal preference. Our minivans + smaller SUVs and mom’s + my aunt’s sedans handle snow just fine. Mom lives up on the Canadian border of NY. My aunt lives outside Rochester. We go up there, through the snow, every year, often more than once.
We just got in from being out in today’s snow running errands with our Ford Escape and had no issues whatsoever even on our totally unplowed road with three inches on it. The only 4WD we’ve ever owned is our truck and we use that more for mud and farm work than snow.
Of course, we always buy tires that can handle snow (all season, but good snow ratings) plus I grew up driving in it and on snow packed roads so YMMV. IME, knowing how to drive on/in snow is better than any particular vehicle. The only accident we saw today was a Fed Ex truck that had collided with some sort of traditional SUV.
They are taking 15 all the way up to NY. I’ve gone the route you mention, I-81 up to Syracuse, it they are headed toward Rochester so directions have them taking US-15. I figured the terrain would be similar, just further west, but wasn’t sure what type of roadway US-15 is compared to the interstates.
Dh just had new tires put on the sedan today but not sure what he bought or what had been on there before. We don’t get much snow here, usually, so I doubt they are snow tires. We typically drive our other two vehicles in foul weather. However, one is not comfortable for the long drive, and my SUV is a gas guzzler which is why they had planned on taking the sedan. The sedan handles much better on those windy, PA highway. I think they are leaving here around 6am, so won’t cross the PA line until around 7:30am. It sounds like by the time they get up into the mountains, the precipitation will be over. I’ll let dh decide what he prefers.
My younger son, who goes to a different h.s. up in the Baltimore area had his first snow day today, much to the chagrin of S19 and my youngest daughter, who go to school where we live. Most of the schools had at least a delay but our county did not as they had predicted all rain for us. However, it was sleeting for hours and roads were a slushy mess when S19 and youngest left for school. I went to the store a little later and roads were definitely slippery as they had not treated them at all. Afterschool activities got canceled even though now we just have heavy rain. I’m waiting for them to get home. I can’t believe my son already had a snow day and it’s only mid-November! He always ends up with more days off than my other kids-Baltimore gets more snow than we do.
@sylvan8798 I’m still usually amused when they cancel school here and my mom outright laughs since where I grew up wouldn’t think of closing for most situations, but for this one they called for three tenths of an inch of ice (freezing rain) on top of the snow. Even where I grew up school would close for ice (though it would remain open for pretty deep snow). On this one they called it correctly for what was predicted IMO.
@4kids4us We vastly prefer the trip to Rochester over the trip to Syracuse (and points north). It’s not all interstate, but it’s much, much prettier and far less traffic. The only traffic we tend to hit is around Shamokin Dam. That’s the best place to find something to eat BTW. It’s all chains, etc, but there’s very little elsewhere - some around Williamsport - some at Canoe Camp (near Mansfield, but the exit before the college) - and then once you get into NY and closer to civilization you can find more.
You don’t need snow tires specifically. We use All Season tires with good snow ratings.
I think we’ve switched to rain now as I no longer see flakes outside. Check the weather in the morning to see what they say - esp around Rochester and east of Lake Erie in the PA mountains. Last I knew tomorrow was a good day for here - not sure about points north and west though.
I can’t speak to the snow issue since we’ve only made the RT between NoVa and Rochester once, but I’m interested in how the conditions are on 15 since S1, DIL and GD live in Rochester and we’ll be making the trip more often. It’s a pretty trip, not much traffic, alot of highway, but some areas where you’re on streets with traffic lights.
My BIL lives in Lewisburg, PA. He couldn’t drive to Selinsgrove (only 15 miles) as the roads were so bad and there were so many accidents. The roads are a disaster. I-83N is closed south of Harrisburg. Definitely recommend the 4WD.
We definitely got more snow than they predicted today. We were in 1-3 range and actually got close to 8 inches according to the news just now. It’s a good thing they weren’t traveling today. The traffic report on TV looks like a Christmas tree with all the red and orange.
They’re still calling for it warming overnight with the rain melting a bit of it and being totally out of here by 7am tomorrow morning - clear weather for our area of PA afterward.
@Creekland, they aren’t going as far north as Rochester. They are visiting Hobart.
Thanks for the tip about stopping around Shamokin Dam-that’s exactly halfway so a good place for a quick stop.
I’m a little bummed I can’t make the trip with them but our pup got spayed so I’m staying home with her. Dh hasn’t been up that way before but S19, my daughter and I went to Syracuse a few years ago in the summer. S19 was attending a sports camp, dh was out of town and my younger two were at sleepaway camp. So I dragged my daughter along and we spent three days in the Finger Lakes region while S19 was at the Syracuse camp. We had such a great time! I’ve always wanted to go back with the whole family (not necessarily in this weather!) but just haven’t been able to get up there. We took 81 both ways and while parts are scenic, the interstate gets boring after awhile, especially when you are the sole driver and the kids sleep most of the ride. I was amazed at how many colleges there are along I-81, seemed like every exit.
Glad to hear the bad weather will have moved on before they are too far into their journey.
I have family members who live in the Finger Lakes. Talking with one of them today, they were in the midst of heavy snow and there’s a winter storm warning for the entire area through late morning Friday.
We have a two hour delay tomorrow morning, but are currently above freezing with light rain and the road looks clear - even our extremely minor road, so hopefully as the storm moves out (heading south to north) they’ll be correct about everything clearing up along your route.
I hope your crew has a good trip. We’re still on a two hour delay (no cancellation) and the news says the roads are wet, but clear. The traffic report doesn’t show any more crashes than there would be on a normal day - completely different than yesterday.
My info goes from the MD border to just north of Harrisburg. Others will need to fill in north of there.
https://www.511pa.com has a nifty feature that allows you to “check your route”. It shows the last time a plow went through and any traffic issues. Hope they have a smooth trip!
Our news (and national news via NBC) has apologized for misreading this storm. It ended up being much worse in most places than they said it would be even as late as yesterday morning. For us it was our 6th worse November snowstorm going back into the 1800s (8.3 inches) with the latter part being ice.
I’m glad our school closed. A district in NJ was featured on NBC for having to keep their students overnight. Parents, I love your teens, but not that much.
Even so… today looks good so as long as places have the roads cleaned, all should be well. I’m off to school in half an hour.
