“It’s winter and it’s Northcentral Pennsylvania. This is what
you get,” said Steve Nelson, McKean County Emergency Management
Agency director on Wednesday.

Estimates for the amount of snowfall in the Valentine’s Day
storm ranged from 14 inches to nearly two feet – and that was in
the afternoon. The heavy snow warning was in effect until 10 p.m.
Wednesday.

The Bradford City Fire Department Central Fire Station monitors
the amount of snowfall, but their efforts were hampered by the
significant wind gusts, which reached up to 35 mph, according to
the Penn State Weather Center.

And the lack of moisture in the snow will continue causing a
problem for the next few days, as meteorologist Kevin Fitzgerald
explained.

“There’s going to be considerable blowing and drifting snow,” he
said, explaining that will cause reduced visibility for
motorists.

“The next couple of days are going to remain very cold and windy
with scattered snow showers, but not a lot of snow,” he added.

“These are certainly below normal temperatures for February.
Wind chills are going to remain low from here on out for the next
couple of days,” he said, explaining the wind chills ar expected to
be in the area of 15 to 20 degrees below zero, with temperatures in
the single digits and falling to zero.

Nelson explained in those conditions, “it is not even
recommended to be outdoors.”

If one must be outside, limit the amount of time spent outside,
dress in layers of loosely fitting, lightweight, warm clothing and
“make sure you are covered up pretty good,” Nelson said.

“If you don’t have to go outside, don’t,” he said. “If you don’t
have to drive, don’t. That’s about the safest thing we can tell
people in these conditions.

“Don’t abandon your vehicle in the middle of the road,” he
added.

While the snow is lightweight and hasn’t been clinging to tree
branches, Nelson said emergency officials are still monitoring
conditions to watch for possible power outages caused by falling
branches.

If there is an outage, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency reminds people to use flashlights rather than candles for
emergency lighting for safety reasons; don’t use a generator
indoors or without proper venting to prevent the build-up of carbon
dioxide; and don’t open the refrigerator or freezer to avoid food
spoilage.

“We’ve had an extremely mild winter,” Nelson said, adding this
is Mother Nature’s reminder of what winter really is. “It just
makes it that much more of a magnitude this year because we haven’t
had anything. This is our first real significant snowfall of the
season.”

So for now, there’s not much else to do but bundle up and bear
it.

“Dress in layers, stay inside if you can and have a cup of hot
chocolate,” Nelson said.