Rain will continue through the week; Creeks are running high with the onslaught of rain
ABOVE: Roaring waters at Glen Onoko hampered rescue efforts Tuesday afternoon. Scan this photo with the Prindeo app to see video of the falls. DYLAN CONTI CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A band of rain clouds moves out, exposing blue skies on Monday in Summit Hill. The rain bands periodically dumped heavy rains and disappeared as quickly as they came. More of the same weather is predicted through the week. RON GOWER/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
Little Schuylkill River pushing higher in Tamaqua
A major rescue operation is underway to remove an injured woman from the Glen Onoko Falls near Jim Thorpe Tuesday afternoon. Rescuers couldn’t access the main trail, reporting it to be a waterfall itself. Fire companies from Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Nesquehoning and Lehigh-Lausanne were working the rescue operation. COPYRIGHT LARRY NEFF/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
When will the rain stop?
That is what most people along the East Coast are asking following four days of intermittent heavy rains.
Unfortunately, for people in the greater Carbon County area, it appears that the rain will get worse before it stops.
According to AccuWeather meteorologist John Gresiak, the heaviest rainfall will shift eastward from the Harrisburg area toward Carbon County during the day today.
“There really aren’t any days I can see through the first part of the weekend where I can see start to finish. But after we get past (Wednesday), there will be more dry and bright weather than there is rainy weather,” Gresiak said.
And it appears that rain will intensify early tonight, meaning the already swollen creeks and rivers in the area will get even higher.
“The wettest weather yet to come is through the early part of (Wednesday) night,” Gresiak said.
Since midday on Saturday, 2.91 inches of rain have fallen at the nearest weather station, Lehigh Valley International Airport.
That’s almost as much as the average rainfall for the entire month of July.
The rain hampered rescue efforts at Glen Onoko Falls Tuesday when crews were called to remove an injured woman.
Rescuers could not access the main trail, reporting it to be a waterfall itself.
Firefighters had to use an adjacent trail. Additional rescue teams were called during the three-hour ordeal.
However it’s not as much as has been seen in western Schuylkill County and Dauphin County. Those areas have seen 6-10 inches of rain since Saturday. Shelters were opened in Pine Grove. Knoebels and Hershey Park were closed Monday because of flooding. Parts reopened Tuesday, but Knoebels was forced to close again today.
“It’s a little unusual for the middle of summer to have just day after day, where we’re seeing periods of heavy rain like this,” said Craig Evanego of National Weather Service.
There’s a good possibility, according to Gresiak, that the area of heaviest rainfall could move east toward Lehighton Wednesday night.
Many people have commented on the seemingly random changes between heavy rain and clearer weather, even sun.
The intermittent downpours are due to a huge amount of humidity in the air. The humidity is between 80 and 95 percent in some areas.
“It’s very moist air, it’s essentially tropical moisture flowing up over the Eastern United States,” Gresiak said.
The tropical air is traveling north because of an area of low pressure over the Ohio River Valley, Evanego said.
“There is a lot of deep moisture coming off the Atlantic Ocean over the area, and it hasn’t been moving, so we keep having this influx of moisture,” Evanego said.
He’s predicting that Thursday could bring warmer weather, potentially in the 80s. However there will still be a lot of humidity. That’s followed by a cold front which unfortunately could produce storms Friday and Saturday.
Gresiak said the weather could part in time for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Pocono.
“Right now, it looks kind of optimistic,” he said.
