Meteorologists: snow to start falling after 10 p.m. Sunday in Pittsburgh, with heaviest snow hitting Monday commute

Some school districts began canceling Monday classes and the Pennsylvania Turnpike began travel restrictions as storm-watchers tried to get ahead of an impending snowstorm.

Snow was expected to begin falling in Pittsburgh as early as 10 p.m. Sunday, and the heaviest accumulations could fall during the Monday morning commute, meteorologists said.

Allegheny County will see between 2 and 5 inches of snow through Monday, and Westmoreland County will see between 3 to 10 inches, according Jared Rackley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon.

A low-pressure system and attached cold front, which stretched from the Great Lakes to Texas, is expected to leave 2 to 4 inches within city limits, Rackley said.

Snow will be heavier in the region’s southern suburbs.

The southern ridges of Westmoreland and Washington counties could see up to a half a foot of snow, Rackley said. Morgantown, W. Va., is anticipating 8 to 11 inches; Butler County might not accumulate an inch.

A winter weather advisory had been issued this weekend for Allegheny County, and Westmoreland County remained under a winter storm warning.

The school closings started before the snow even began to fall.

Around 4 p.m., Pittsburgh Public Schools announced all classes and administrative offices would be closed Monday “due to expected snow and weather conditions.” The district also cancelled all transportation plans.

Monday classes were cancelled in the McKeesport Area and Sto-Rox school districts, as well as in Uniontown and at Propel Schools in McKeesport, Munhall and Homestead, according to a school-closure list from TribLive news partner WTAE.

Plans for remote learning Monday also were announced in the Bethel Park, Chartiers Valley, Duquesne, Hempfield Area and Woodland Hills school districts, WTAE reported.

Travel restrictions

PennDOT’s travel restrictions went into effect Sunday on certain roadways, lowering speed limits and barring certain vehicles from travel.

Motorists driving tractor-trailers, cargo delivery trucks, motor-coach buses and motorcycles, among others, will not be able to ride, as of 5 p.m., on:

• I-79 and I-70 from the West Virginia border to the Pennsylvania Turnpike; all of I-279 and I-57; and I-376 from Exit 36 to Exit 85

At 8 p.m., PennDOT’s restrictions will extend to the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Cranberry (Exit 28) to Breezewood (Exit 161), as well as the entire length of the Turnpike’s 576, 43 and 66 extensions.

At 12:01 a.m. Monday, the turnpike will close to those vehicles from Breezewood (Exit 161) to Harrisburg (Exit 247).

Additional details on restrictions can be found at pa.gov.

More than 600 PennDOT equipment operators and staff will pre-treat roads where necessary Sunday to prevent ice from forming during the early stages of snow.

That’s a tall order, according to Rackley, the meteorologist.

The new snow accumulations will fall on top of as much as 4 inches of snow brought to the Pittsburgh area by snow squalls Friday night. Parts of Westmoreland County saw between 2 and 8 inches of snow, with higher totals in the mountainous regions.

Arctic temperatures also likely will linger through the week — and possibly into the weekend, Rackley said.

Monday’s projected high temperature in Pittsburgh is 28 degrees. The high drops to 23 degrees Wednesday.

“So, anything that does stick to the roads is going to keep sticking,” Rackley told TribLive. “And everything people are walking on or driving on could turn to ice.”

Storm sweeps across U.S.

The storm has swept across the U.S., with dire predictions still unfolding for much of the East Coast.

As of Sunday, 8 inches of snow had fallen in the Kansas City suburbs, where a blizzard warning is in effect until midnight, weather service data shows.

At 2 p.m., Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport had reported 6.2 inches of snow; an hour later, Godfrey, Ill., a village about 35 miles north of St. Louis, recorded 6.5 inches.

Pittsburgh public works teams said they’d work Sunday to get ahead of the storm.

At 6 p.m., city officials said they plan to deploy 60 trucks to pre-treat roads, with an additional 70 trucks taking to city streets at 6 a.m. Monday.

“Our public works crews are stepping up to ensure Pittsburgh’s streets are safe and passable,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a prepared statement.

Allegheny County Department of Public Works Director Stephen Shanley said his teams are prepared to clear and salt roads — regardless of how much snow ends up falling.

Shanley plans to deploy 28 salt trucks with plows, and he said they will be out until the snow stops falling and roads are clear. It typically takes drivers one to two hours to complete the routes and then an hour to reload the salt to restart the routes.

“It will probably take our drivers longer than that tomorrow morning because of the additional traffic caused by the morning commute,” Shanley said. “So, there will likely be accumulation on our roadways at times tomorrow, especially during morning rush hour.”

Those commuting into Pittsburgh Monday should prepare for longer trips, city officials said.

City residents also are asked to avoid parking on the street, when possible, to help with pre-treatment and snow-plowing efforts.

Pittsburgh officials said they plan to pre-emptively close several roads when snow begins to fall heavily, including parts of Copperfield Street in the city’s Carrick neighborhood, South Negley Avenue in and near Shadyside, and Rialto Street near Troy Hill and Route 28.

Though snow could begin falling in Pittsburgh around 10 p.m., much of it won’t arrive until after midnight, Rackley, the meteorologist, told TribLive.

The heaviest snow is expected in the area between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m., the National Weather Service said Sunday. About a half inch of snow could accumulate every hour during that period.

Flurries could continue into the afternoon. The weather service expects the snow to end between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday.

Andrew Kienzle, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon, said the band of snow coming in with the storm would have to shift 20 to 40 miles north for Western Pennsylvania to get higher snow totals.

“Somebody’s definitely going to get quite a ton of snow,” he said. “That all depends on where that band sets up tomorrow morning.”

Megan Swift and Justin Vellucci are TribLive staff writers. Reach them at mswift@triblive.com and jvellucci@triblive.com.