Skip Navigation

Cellphones now warn of traffic-snarling snow squalls

  • The Associated Press
Vehicles pile up at the site of a fatal crash near Fredericksburg, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across several lanes of traffic and into the snow-covered median. (Cooper Leslie via AP)

Vehicles pile up at the site of a fatal crash near Fredericksburg, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across several lanes of traffic and into the snow-covered median. (Cooper Leslie via AP)

(Undated) — The National Weather Service has added snow squalls to the dangerous events that trigger cellphone warnings, along with tornadoes and flash floods.

The goal is to prevent deadly highway crashes like the one triggered by a whiteout on Interstate 78 in Lebanon County in February 2016 and another just this week on I-80 in central Pennsylvania.

Cellphones from Maine to West Virginia buzzed a startling warning Wednesday afternoon as a cold front from Canada triggered squalls as it moved through the Northeast.

Researchers say improvements in radar technology and computer modeling are allowing better short-term forecasting that enables the warnings.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
Regional & State News

Record-breaking travel volume expected this holiday season