Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, February 4 to 5, 1997

A wintry mix of snow, then sleet and freezing rain fell over the Poconos from the afternoon of the 4th through the early morning of the 5th. Precipitation started as snow around 3 p.m. EST on the 4th in the Poconos and even farther south in the Lehigh Valley. The change to plain rain occurred quickly in the Lehigh Valley by about 7 p.m. EST with accumulations generally less than an inch. The transition to plain rain though took much longer in the Poconos. By 7 or 8 p.m. EST a change to sleet and freezing rain had started over southern parts of Carbon and Monroe Counties and took until midnight EST over of the higher terrain in Monroe County. Warmer air overnight changed the precipitation over to plain rain by the morning of the 5th and prevented an ice storm from occurring. Storm precipitation totals were close to one inch water equivalent. Snowfall accumulations prior to the changeover averaged around 2 inches in the valleys and 4 inches over the higher terrain of the Poconos. Accumulations included 4 inches in both Jundale and Mount Pocono, 2.5 inches in Jim Thorpe, 2 inches in Long Pond and 1.5 inches in East Stroudsburg. Untreated roads were slippery. A low pressure system developed in the Texas Panhandle the morning of the 3rd and moved northeast to Central Illinois by the morning of the 4th. Precipitation preceding its warm front overspread Pennsylvania. The low moved northeast into the Saint Lawrence Valley the morning of the 5th, a common storm track for this winter so far. A weak secondary low did develop along the warm frontal boundary over Southern New England on the morning of the 5th. This scenario sometimes prevents a complete changeover. In this instance the secondary development was too late, but probably was responsible for the lengthier change to plain rain in the Poconos.