Weather advisory issued as freezing rain expected on New Year's Day

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for Southwestern Pennsylvania on Friday morning, with freezing rain in the forecast.

The advisory is in effect from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the region could receive .10 inches of freezing rain, coating roads and sidewalks, according to the weather service.

A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for most of the Ohio Valley due to freezing rain potential on New Year's Day. Here are the details: pic.twitter.com/cULNeVKQom

— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) December 31, 2020

Wednesday night’s rain turned to snow overnight, bringing up to an inch of snow to some parts of the region, according to Jared Rackley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon. Both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were expected to receive less than an inch of snow.

Overnight, lows will hover around 26 degrees.

The transition to snow continues across the area early this morning. With most of the moisture and lift gone, not much more than a dusting is expected. pic.twitter.com/8pKPc55vMD

— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) December 31, 2020

The freezing rain Friday will thaw in the afternoon as highs reach 40 degrees.

“If anything, it would be a little bit of freezing drizzle, a little bit of freezing rain and then that changes over to rain pretty quickly,” Rackley said.

Rain will remain in the region through Saturday morning, when it will clear out. Temperatures could once again reach near 50 degrees Saturday, with a low of 36 degrees at night.

PennDOT is urging New Year’s Day drivers to be cautious due to potential freezing rain and will implement numerous vehicle restrictions Friday.

Most of I-80 east of I-79 will be under Level 1 vehicle restrictions starting noon Friday. This means buses, RVs, passenger vehicles towing trailers and empty tractor-trailers will not be permitted on the interstate.

Highways on the Eastern side of the state will have stricter precautions. I-99 and the easternmost stretch of I-80 will have Level 3 restrictions, which requires all commercial vehicles to use tire chains or other traction devices.

I-81 north of I-80, I-84 and I-380 will be under Level 4 restrictions, which prohibit commercial traffic.

Speed limits will be restricted to 45 mph on all affected roadways, and commercial vehicles which are allowed to drive must use the right lane

The warmer temperatures come after several inches of snow were dumped across Western Pennsylvania this month. The region saw a record day for snow Dec. 17 after 9.3 inches were reported, making it the fifth highest December calendar-day total, NWS officials said at the time.

As snow comes to an end this morning, our latest measurement brings the Pittsburgh December 2020 snowfall total to 27.4 inches.
This makes it the 2nd snowiest December on record for Pittsburgh and the 7th snowiest overall month for Pittsburgh. Snowfall records began in 1880. pic.twitter.com/G8E4LuUjiX

— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) December 31, 2020

Another system brought an additional 3.9 inches of snow Christmas morning, making it one of the whitest Christmases the region has ever seen.

In all, the Pittsburgh region has seen 27.4 inches of snow this December, according to the National Weather Service. That makes it the second snowiest December on record and the seventh snowiest overall month. The first snowiest month was February 2010 when 48.7 inches of snow were recorded.