Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, December 10 to 11, 1997

A low pressure system that moved through the Delmarva Peninsula coastal waters brought a wintry mix of precipitation across the Lehigh Valley, extreme Northern Bucks County and Berks County and heavy snow to the Poconos. Snow began across the region during the morning on the 10th. Enough warm air at higher levels of the atmosphere moved into Berks County, extreme Northern Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley for precipitation to change over to a rain and freezing rain mixture from the late afternoon through the evening on the 10th. Precipitation though remained mainly snow in the Poconos. The heaviest precipitation was over by midnight on the 10th, but lighter snow and/or flurries lingered until around sunrise on the 11th. Snowfall accumulations averaged around 6 inches in the Poconos with lighter accumulations across the Lehigh Valley and extreme Northern Bucks County (about 1 to 3 inches) and Berks County (generally less than one inch). The wintry precipitation caused accidents throughout the area, but the worst ones occurred around school dismissal time in Berks County. In Exeter Township, a car skidded head-on into a school bus and injured two children. In Leesport Township, another vehicle skidded into a school bus after trying to make a right hand turn. No injuries were reported with the second accident. Specific accumulations included 7.5 inches in Tobyhanna (Monroe County), 7 inches in Long Pond (Monroe County), 6 inches in Jim Thorpe (Carbon County) and Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 5 inches in Lehighton (Carbon County), 2.5 inches in Springtown (Bucks County), and 1 inch at the Lehigh Valley International Airport.