What a difference a day makes

First Posted:

It sure came in like a lion, as the saying goes, but this March allowed barely any face time with gentler lamb-like weather before giving way today to April and its expected showers.

While this March began with some bone-chilling temperatures and a few inches of snow in the first week, a few days of 50-something temperatures never materialized as predicted for the tail-end of last week to close out the month.

In fact, a “kind of unusual” weather event slapped Northeastern Pennsylvania with a mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow on Sunday, the next-to-last day of March 2014, noted WNEP-TV Chief meteorologist Tom Clark.

A “deformation zone,” which occurs when converging air currents come together and air is forced to rise, manifested itself over the area Sunday afternoon into Sunday night, forming “a band of surprisingly heavy snow. It sat there for about five hours. It was hard to predict,” Clark said.

While much of the Wyoming Valley saw about 2 inches of snow and the Mountain Top area saw about 5, Tunkhannock and more northern areas saw close to a foot, Clark said.

There were some reports of vehicle crashes Sunday night, as area roads iced up, and many school districts instituted two-hour delays to start the school day on Monday.

Still, much of whatever fell the night before and made for a miserable Monday morning quickly melted away in the afternoon, as temperatures climbed close to 50.

Spring-like temperatures are expected to remain with us for a few days. No fooling! Area highs could reach 60 degrees this afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon as well. But April is also expected to live up to its showery reputation, possibly delivering some rain beginning Wednesday and continuing into the weekend.

Fortunately, Clark said, there’s not much risk of local flooding, despite the warm-up, because most of the snow and ice have already melted. The Susquehanna River had risen 14 feet from recent heavy rain, but it crested well below flood stage at 18.15 feet on Monday.

And while everyone but the pollen-sensitive might be daydreaming about May flowers blossoming after this month’s showers, Clark warns that we shouldn’t be surprised if snow were to hit us again in the very near future.

“April can be a fickle month,” he said.

Times Leader reporter Travis Kellar contributed to this report.