winter... (Harrisburg, Tioga, Penn: schools, college, living)

[asena]

Hi..how is the winter time up there? lots of snow? or just dry cold?

[ki0eh]

The Harrisburg area can receive big dumps of snow from nor'easter storms but rarely is there snow on the ground for longer than a week at a time. Last winter there was XC skiable snow for a month here and a good bit more overall than there was at our cabin in Tioga County, PA but that was a greater than 10-year anomaly. We are sheltered by higher hills/mountains to the west from the lake effect, and rarely get much out of "clipper" systems. Cold rain is not uncommon and certainly there are ice storms as well - those could be more common than the big snow dumps. (I should say that I grew up near Syracuse so my idea of a "big snow dump" is when I need to run the 2-stage snowblower more than once. )

[DowntownHarrisburg]

For the most part, just cold with scattered rain / snow. These are my pictures from one of the biggest snowstorms we've had in YEARS:

Picasa Web Albums - floor9.com - Snowpocalypse...

[asena]

Very nice pictures.I better stay down here in georgia.I was thinking about moving up there, because of a job.But that white stuff looks good only in pictures.

[LivingMoon]

I've lived in central Pennsylvania since 1989. Three years out of five, there is no snowfall that requires a shovel -- less than an inch at a time. For the other two years out of five, one year usually has significant snowfall and the other has some smaller amount of measurable snow and/or ice. The ice storms are much harder to deal with, in my opinion.

The biggest problem with a major snowfall out here is that a storm has to track just right, from South to North inland from the Gulf of Mexico, travelling over the DC area. For some reason, our local weather experts never predict a big storm until it is about a day away, leaving employers, schools, businesses, citizens and public workers less prepared than they should be.

[DowntownHarrisburg]

Originally Posted by asena

Very nice pictures.I better stay down here in georgia.I was thinking about moving up there, because of a job.But that white stuff looks good only in pictures.

Thanks! LivingMoon and ki0eh have pretty much nailed it, in that our major snowfalls are few and far between. But if you're looking to avoid snow, Pennsylvania definitely isn't going to be one of your top choices.

[alamosakid]

Originally Posted by LivingMoon

I've lived in central Pennsylvania since 1989. Three years out of five, there is no snowfall that requires a shovel -- less than an inch at a time. For the other two years out of five, one year usually has significant snowfall and the other has some smaller amount of measurable snow and/or ice. The ice storms are much harder to deal with, in my opinion.

Really?! I had crossed PA off of my list of places to consider because I assumed they just had HORRIBLE winters. Granted I will be moving from the 8th coldest city in the lower 48. I wound up wandering through Harrisburg and loved the place a few days ago, and figured I could just "compromise" on the weather factor.

But this sounds just about perfect if I'm going to live somewhere where there's measurable snow every winter. A huge snow storm every so often just to keep things exciting, LOL, but not everyday snow like what I lived in in Wisconsin where it just got old after a few weeks.

[toobusytoday]

What is harder to get used to then the snow, IMHO, is the duration of winter. It's really not bad in December, January or even February but by the end of February, I am ready for Spring and that truly does not appear until April, sometimes even the end of April. Kids do Easter egg hunts in their winter coats. Mind you, I love Pennsylvania and have lived here for 20 years, but fair warning to a Southerner that winter is more then 3 months.

My kids have lived here their whole lives and two out of three don't mind the winters at all. In fact, my youngest recently decided to go to college in upstate Vermont where I believe it's still winter-like.