The National Weather Service in Coraopolis says the northern half of the tri-county area could see several inches of snowfall throughout the weekend.
Rihaan Gangat, a meteorologist with the weather service, expects the snow to last into the weekend.
“It looks like the snow will begin roughly around Thursday, maybe in the late evening,” he said. “That should last all the way through Saturday morning.”
The snow will be a result of a lake-effect event off Lake Erie.
Gangat said the area can expect roughly 4 to 6 inches over the weekend, while the more southern-lying areas will see 3 to 4 inches.
While December has been mild so far, Gangat expects temperatures to drop throughout the event.
He said Friday will have a low temperature of 20 and Saturday will have a low of 19. Highs will reach 30 on Friday and the upper 20s Saturday.
But Gangat warned the wind chill will make Friday and Saturday feel colder.
“We are looking at wind gusts of probably 15 to 20 miles per hour, which could lower the wind chill temperature to single digits,” he said.
Those gusts will make it feel significantly colder.
“It’s going to feel like it’s probably about 9 or 10 degrees,” Gangat said.
The 4-to-6-inch prediction is just an estimate.
“It really depends where the heaviest snow bands set up,” he said. “Right now, we are forecast for 4 to 6 inches, but areas could get more or less than that.”
