Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Pennsylvania, November 13 to 14, 1997

A coastal storm or nor'easter developed along the South Carolina coast the morning of the 13th and moved slowly northeast and was about 75 miles east of Salisbury Maryland at 7 a.m. EST on the 14th. The low pressure system then accelerated and was well southeast of Nova Scotia on the morning of the 15th. Preceding this low pressure system was an unseasonably cold and dry air mass. This factor coupled with the northeast flow around the coastal low and the presence of a new and fresh supply of cold air supplied by another high pressure system in nearby Canada kept temperatures near the ground at or below the freezing mark. Thus precipitation fell as mainly freezing rain. The freezing rain caused power outages and contributed to three fatalities involving motor vehicles.Precipitation started during the late evening on the 13th and lasted about 24 hours ending as a period of light snow across much of the area, especially in the Poconos where 1 to 3 inches accumulated on top of the ice. In Upper Bucks County, freezing rain fell during the morning of the 14th, before most locations rose above the freezing mark. Some pockets of freezing formed again that evening before the precipitation ended. The ground was still relatively warm and ice accrued mainly on power lines, tree limbs, bridges and overpasses. A 38 year-old Allentown woman was killed at 140 a.m. EST on the 14th when she lost control of her car. At 9 p.m. EST on the 14th a 51-year-old man and his 17-year-old son were killed when they lost control of their car on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Kidder Township (Carbon County) and were broadsided by a tractor trailer. The Pennsylvania State Police division in the Poconos advised against nonessential travel because of numerous reports of fender benders and vehicles sliding off roadways.As the freezing rain continued to accrue on trees and power lines (about one-half to three-quarters of an inch of ice accrued on most surfaces), they started to come down. Pennsylvania Power and Light reported about 50,000 homes and businesses lost power in their northeast Pennsylvania service area. It took about 24 hours to bring the last 5,000 customers back on line. In Lehigh County, there were numerous outages on the east and south side of Allentown and also in South Whitehall Township. The greatest accretion of ice occurred in the northeast part of the county. In Northampton County numerous outages were reported in Bethlehem and three vehicles were damaged by fallen limbs. Few neighborhoods were spared tree damage. The most ice though accrued in the northwest part of the county around Danielsville. In Berks County, the greatest ice accretion and most of the fallen limbs were reported from Oley northeast to the Blue Mountains.