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This winter is just like a broken record

By RON GOWER

rgower@tnonline.comThe weather forecasts lately have become like the old damaged records.For those too young to remember, vinyl records, which preceded CDs a long time ago, often got scratches, and as a result, the same few words of the song would play over and over and over.And we're hearing the same forecast over and over.Both the National Weather Service and AccuWeather insist things won't be changing anytime soon.With the most recent cold snap that resulted in wind chills as low as 20 degrees below zero, just one temperature record was broken.In Wilkes-Barre, the reading was minus 4, breaking a 1978 record of minus 2.In Allentown, the actual low reached minus 1, with the record being minus 2 set in 1936.Reading also had a minus 1, with that record also being minus 2. The Reading record was established 112 years ago back in 1903.Some of the temperature readings this morning:• Summit Hill minus 7.• Tamaqua minus 6.• Mount Pocono minus 10.• Bradford minus 14.Temperatures are predicted to again go under the zero line tonight, although the winds won't be quite as gusty.The National Weather Service says we could get 4-6 inches of snow Saturday afternoon.It will change to freezing rain and then rain Sunday as the mercury reaches near 40.Another cold front will follow with biting cold weather.The State College office of the National Weather Service, which covers Schuylkill County, says this morning that no significant accumulation is expected.

RON GOWER/TIMES NEWS Neil Bogin of Jim Thorpe and his standard poodle, Katie, have fun on frozen Mauch Chunk Lake in Jim Thorpe. Bogin does some cross-country skiing on the frozen lake while Katie seems to be jumping for joy.