Pittsburgh Winter Storm Brings Ice, Power Outages, Slick Roads

PITTSBURGH, PA — The winter storm moving still moving through the region already has packed a powerful punch. More than 25,000 Western Pennsylvania residents are without power due to ice accumulations, travel remains treacherous and hundreds of schools have either canceled classes or gone to remote learning for Friday.

Most of the outages are south of the city, with West Penn Power reporting 20,000 customers in Washington County without power as of 7:30 a.m. In Allegheny County, Duquesne Light reported nearly 3,000 outages in Allegheny County, with West Penn reporting more than 2,000.

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 10 a.m. The National Weather Service says 1 to 3 inches of snow could occur before the precipitation tapers off to snow showers this afternoon.

PennDOT has lowered the speed limit on various Western Pennsylvania highways in the region and temporarily banned the following vehicles from traveling on them: commercial vehicles,
all school buses, commercial buses, motor coaches, motorcycles, RVs and motor homes, and passenger cars (cars, SUV’s, pickup trucks, etc.) towing trailers.

The restrictions are in place on the following Allegheny and Beaver Couty roads:

• Interstate 79
• Interstate 376 (between the Chippewa Interchange at Exit 31 in Beaver County and the PA Turnpike in Monroeville.
• Interstate 279 (Parkway North)
• Interstate 579

The Port Authority reported a portion of the overhead power line went down near the T rail center in the South Hills this morning, trapping all rail cars and rendering the line all but unusable. With temperatures not expected to rise much throughout the day, the authority warned that quick repairs and restoration of the rail system will be difficult.

According to the authority, buses are experiencing little delays other than in hilly areas that they are unable to traverse, specifically parts of Penn Hills and the Polish Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

A flood warning has been issued for portions of Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties until 11 a.m. Snow melt and as much as 1.5 inches of rain that fell on the region Thursday mean flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations is imminent or occurring.

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