A sudden snowstorm Sunday afternoon caused a pilot of a single-engine plane to force-land in an open field in West Penn Township.

The sudden weather conditions, caused by a low pressure system moving swiftly across the state and overriding warm air currents from the south, caused the area to be hit with snow squalls that left numerous roadways very icy and snow-covered.

Pilot Bernard Malone of Pompton, N.J., told state police he was returning from a recreational flying trip when he lost visibility during the storm and landed the plane 300 feet south of St. Peter’s Church Road and 30 feet west of the Carbon County line.