You can place your bets on the form, but meteorologists are nearly certain large amounts of some sort of precipitation is destined to hammer the region early next week.
As Hurricane Sandy makes its way north along the East Coast, a winter storm is moving east across the country and a cold front is streaming south from Canada. The three could meet creating a witch's brew of conditions for a notable storm which the national media is dubbing "Frankenstorm" just prior to Halloween.
Should Sandy meet the cold front, as forecasters predicted on Thursday, the result will likely mean large amounts of heavy, wet snow in the northeast.
Forecasters predicted Friday the region was more likely to receive heavy rain rather than snows and meteorologists expect high winds to sweep across the area regardless of the form of precipitation.
"We're expecting rain to move in late in the weekend, probably late Sunday night," John LaCorte at the National Weather Service office in State College said Friday, when asked what to expect in Warren County. "The bulk of it should hit Monday and into Tuesday. You're (Warren County) kind of up in the far north and east region, so the main threat for you is going to be high winds and heavy rainfall."
More precise predictions are not yet available as Sandy was still moving north parallel to the coast of Florida just north of the Bahamas on Friday afternoon.
The storm is expected to make landfall north of Virginia, but south of New England, on Tuesday morning.
Dan Jones, public relations specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Friday that nothing needs to be done to prepare for heavy precipitation at Kinzua Dam.
"Basically, we're already down right around where our winter pool would be," Jones said. "We have plenty of space for storage due to the drier than normal conditions this year. Right now, we're in a good position."
Jones also noted the dam outflow is running at normal for this time of year, but the extra space in the Allegheny Reservoir leaves space to reduce flow if needed to mitigate flooding downstream.
According to John Cochran, a highway foreman with PennDOT District 1, which covers Warren County, "We are being as pro-active as we can (in anticipation of the storm)."
Cochran said PennDOT crews are filling brine tanks for use in clearing snowy roads, chainsaws are being made ready for clearing roads in case high winds cause trees to fall into roadways and that approximately 80 percent of its trucks have been converted for winter use.
Cochran also said the PennDOT assistant manager on-call for this weekend is "all aware we could be looking at heavy, wet snow."
"We're as ready as we can be," Cochran said.
Premiere water rescue services are ready to go and do their part. Warren County Public Safety Director Todd Lake said Glade Volunteer Fire Department's Swiftwater Rescue Team and a team from Lake City in Erie County are making preparations in case they are called by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA).