Winter Weather Advisory Issued for Lehigh Valley

According to the calendar there are six more weeks of autumn left, but somebody apparently forgot to tell Mother Nature.

November has barely begun and the Lehigh Valley is already under a winter weather advisory.

The advisory, issued Tuesday afternoon by the National Weather Service at Mount Holly, N.J., covers both Lehigh and Northampton counties and is from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday.

A wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain is possible during that 24-hour period, with snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches north of Philadelphia, according to the advisory.

"Precipitation will likely change to all snow overnight while gradually tapering off," the weather service said. "An occasional light wintry mix may continue on Thursday."

Since temperatures are expected to be borderline for frozen precipitation, "treated roadways should remain mostly ice free," it added.

The precipitation will be associated with a coastal storm that is also expected to impact areas recently devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

Wind gusts in the Lehigh Valley could reach speeds of up to 50 mph during the storm, with sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph.

High winds associated with Sandy brought down hundreds of trees and power lines in the Lehigh Valley, and resulted in widespread power outages that lasted for up to a week in some places.

Many schools were closed for up to a week while the area recovered.