Community Corner

Rare October Snowstorm Blankets Area

Snow is expected to continue falling throughout Saturday.

Update 6 p.m.:

About 178,000 PECO customers are without power now; of those, 75,000 are in Bucks County, 34,000 in the Doylestown area alone.

Spokeswoman Cathy Engel Menendez said the 34,000 includes Doylestown Borough and Township as well as Buckingham Township and others like Plumstead and Warrington, since the company goes by address rather than municipal boundary.

Find out what's happening in Doylestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

PECO crews have been out working in the storm and will continue to work through the night, Engel Menendez said.

While workers have been able to restore power to about 17,000 customers so far, the outages continue piling on, she said.

Find out what's happening in Doylestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We do think we’ll continue to see more outages occur overnight and into Sunday," Engel Menendez said, adding that crews are facing tough working conditions. "It's taking awhile for them to get from site to site, and it’s harder to work in storm conditions and in the dark."

In Doylestown itself, neighborhoods are dark and many stores, restaurants and businesses were without power as of 6 p.m., including the Doylestown Shopping Center, where the is, the Mercer Square shopping center where the is and the Cross Keys shopping center where the KMart and are.

Streets are slick and drivers were slipping and sliding. With stoplights out at many intersections, small stop signs have been erected at some.

And residents report holing up at home over candlelight, taking innovative approaching to cooking, including grilling outside in the snow.

How are you faring in the storm? Let us know.

Update 5 p.m.:

Trees all over town have split or dropped branches under the weight of accumulating snow and ice. Check out the photos submitted by folks who were out and about today.

Update 3:40 p.m.:

If you have lost power (but are presumably reading this on your phone or laptop), call PECO at 215-841-4141 to report electrical outages or problems.

Don't assume someone else has called; PECO representatives have said repeatedly that the more people who call, the better. It gives them a more accurate picture of how widespread the outage is.

 

Update 3 p.m.:

Numerous car crashes have been reported throughout Bucks County, and roads are slick and wet.

Officials are asking people to stay at home if at all possible to minimize traffic on the roads.

The accumulation of wet, heavy snow on trees that still have their fall leaves also is contributing to lots of broken branches and downed trees.

The power also is out to several parts of Doylestown, not to mention other parts of Bucks County, including widespread outages in Quakertown and East Rockhill Township.

We will update with more information as it becomes available.

 

The kids and snow-loving adults are getting a rare treat today, as the snow predicted for our area has indeed started falling.

It's been more than 30 years since the last measurable snow fell in the Philadelphia area in October, according to meteorologists. It was October 10, 1979, and 2.1 inches of snow fell.

The earliest ever recorded incident of October snow was October 9 in 1879, according to Chris Dolce, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel.

In fact, measurable snow has been recorded only five times in the Philadelphia area, Dolce said.

The Philadelphia area ususally gets its first measurable snow around Dec. 18, they said.

Here's the forecast for Doylestown for the rest of the day:

Through 6 pm: Periods of snow. The snow may be heavy at times early in the period. Cloudy and windy. Temperatures reaching the low 30s. Winds N at 15 to 20 mph. Additional snowfall of 2 to 4 inches through 6 pm.

Tonight: Windy. Snow and heavy snow this evening will diminish to a few snow showers late. Low 27F. Winds NNW at 25 to 35 mph. 4 to 6 inches of snow expected.

Sunday: Mainly sunny. Cold. High near 40F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.


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