As State College excitedly prepares for the arrival of President Obama on Wednesday, one worry that is becoming more and more ominous is whether or not he’ll be able to make it to central Pennsylvania.

Looking at the weather picture across the United States as of Monday afternoon, a storm system was building in the southwestern United States and will begin to affect the Northeast Monday night. Predictive weather models are showing that a second batch of precipitation will move into Pennsylvania late Tuesday night continuing through early Wednesday afternoon.

The precipitation around State College will be in the form of a wintry mix, bringing snow, sleet, and most importantly, freezing rain into the area, causing any travel, especially that by plane, to become very hazardous. Centre County is already under a Winter Storm Warning which will not expire until 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

“Travel conditions will be less than ideal, be it for air travel or ground travel,” Pennsylvania State climatologist and Penn State weather station contributor Paul Knight said. “Some places in Central Pennsylvania will see sleet while others will see snow turning over to freezing rain throughout the night. There would have to be much vigilance in keeping runways and roads in the area clear.”

I’m no Air Force One expert. I know it probably has more hi-tech instruments than anything I’ve ever seen before, but I bet that even this 747 has its limitations when dealing with winter weather.