Ice Storm and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 15 to 16, 1998

A large high pressure system that moved across lower Quebec Province helped set the stage for freezing rain and an ice storm across much of Eastern Pennsylvania. Cold air circulating around this high pressure system became trapped at the lowest layers of the atmosphere as a developing low pressure system along the southeast coast of the United States helped pump warmer air above the ground across the region. The northeast winds circulating around this low pressure system kept the cold air trapped as temperatures only stubbornly rose toward the freezing mark. Enough warm air made into Berks County and Lower Bucks County as well as the rest of the Northwestern Philadelphia suburbs to change the freezing rain to rain by the evening of the 15th. Farther north, from Upper Bucks County through the Poconos, precipitation fell mainly as freezing rain with as much as 3/4 of an inch of ice accruing on exposed surfaces in the Poconos. The heaviest freezing rain fell during the afternoon and evening hours on the 15th. By midnight, temperatures rose above the freezing mark in Upper Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley, but remained around the freezing mark through the morning of the 16th in the Poconos. In the Lehigh Valley within Allentown, nine ice related accidents occurred within a 20 minute span on bridges and overpasses the afternoon of the 15th. In Northampton County, in East Allen Township, a car spun out of control on Pennsylvania State Route 248 and crashed into a pole injuring the three persons in the vehicle and blacking out 1,400 residents. In Forks Township, downed tree limbs damaged other wires. Several accidents were also reported in Bath. In all about 2,000 residents lost power in Northampton County. In the Poconos, Interstate 80 had to be closed because of the hundreds of accidents on the roadway in Monroe County. County officials advised motorists from driving because of the extremely hazardous road conditions.