As Winter Returns, Remembering Peregrines on Ice

Pair of peregrines on ice floes in the Allegheny River, 12 Jan 2018 (photo by Dave Brooke)
Pair of peregrines on ice floes in the Allegheny River, 12 Jan 2018 (photo by Dave Brooke)

5 January 2025

Harsh winter returns to a large swath of the U.S. today through Tuesday, 5-7 January. From Kansas to Delaware, encompassing the Ohio River end to end, 14 states have Winter Storm Warnings including the southern tier of Pennsylvania.

U.S. forecast map 1/5/2025, 10:52UTC (5:52am EST) from weather.gov

For Pittsburgh it means snow, maybe 3.9 inches. According to NWS Pittsburgh’s Snow and Ice Potential Forecasts this morning — graphic updated on Mon 6 January at 5:01am:

Expected snowfall in NWS PIttsburgh forecast area, Sun 5 Jan 7PM through Tues 7 Jan 7AM (map from weather.gov Pittsburgh)

After it snows low temperatures here will drop into the teens and single digits, 18°F to 9°F on Tuesday through Friday. This will be low enough to form ice on the Allegheny River as it did seven years ago when ice floes lured the Tarentum peregrines to land on the river. For a trip down memory lane see this vintage article.

Meanwhile if you’re going to spend time outdoors, today is the day to do it. Expect the grocery store to run out of bread, milk and toilet paper.

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