The sleigh bells jingle and ...

"It's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together
With you!"

In yesterday's post "Blah! Humbug!" the Rev. Paul left a comment that read in part " Could be worse, though - heavy snows, ice storms, power outages." All I can say is thanks a lot Rev.! Someone must have over heard cause here's the forecast for tonight and tomorrow:

(This from the Weather.com site.)

Winter Storm Watch for Tioga County, PA
from 4 am EST, Fri., Dec. 19, 2008 until 6 pm EST, Fri., Dec. 19, 2008

Issued by The National Weather Service
State College, PA
5:01 am EST, Thu., Dec. 18, 2008

... WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON...

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

A NEW STORM RACING OUT OF THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES WILL BRING MORE WINTRY PRECIPITATION TO CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. SNOW WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION LATER TONIGHT... MIXED WITH SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN OVER SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE WATCH AREA. PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION FRIDAY... WITH A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW... SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS... AND MAINLY SNOW FURTHER NORTH TO THE NEW YORK BORDER.

THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW OVER THE REGION FROM ABOUT INTERSTATE 80 NORTHWARD... WITH ACCUMULATIONS IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES POSSIBLE.

OVER THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80... MORE OF A WINTRY MIX IS EXPECTED WITH MODERATE ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW AND SLEET... FOLLOWED BY FREEZING RAIN.

And here's the Weather.com forecast for the next 36 hours:


Not to be outdone, the AccuWeather crew have a little more detail on the accumulations.


Please note the accumulation totals at the top of that graphic. That's 15.7 inches followed by winds gusting in to the 40 mph range. At least they took the 0.4 inches of ice out of the local forecast. That's going to happen to the south of us near I-80.

I believe AccuWeather is headquartered in State College, PA. They have, from time to time bemoaned the lack of snow fall in the area. They all should be happy as all get out based upon their long range forecast which shows nothing but snow, snow, snow through New Year's Day. The storm highlighted here is just the first of three heading our way. Should be fun!