Heat, Berks
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Berks forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat in Pennsylvania, March 27 to 31, 1998
An unseasonably warm air mass for late March brought record breaking high temperatures across Eastern Pennsylvania from March 27th through March 31st. The warmest days were the 30th around the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and either the 30th or 31st in Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 7 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 10
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
An unseasonably warm air mass for late March brought record breaking high temperatures across Eastern Pennsylvania from March 27th through March 31st. The warmest days were the 30th around the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and either the 30th or 31st in Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. Several locations across the Middle Atlantic States established new March monthly high temperature records including the Lehigh Valley International Airport on the 30th with a high of 87 degrees. The previous March monthly record was 86 degrees set on March 29, 1945. Daily high temperature records were broken at the Lehigh Valley International Airport on the 27th, 30th and 31st and on the 30th (one degree shy of the monthly record) at the Philadelphia International Airport. The high of 81 degrees on the 31st tied the record high for the day in Philadelphia. Across Eastern Pennsylvania, the highest temperatures included 89 degrees in King of Prussia (Montgomery County), and Crum Creek (Delaware County), 88 degrees in Reading (Berks County), New Hope (Bucks County), the Willow Grove NAS (Montgomery County), East Stroudsburg (Monroe County) and the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, 87 degrees in Easton (Northampton County) and the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 86 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport and 84 degrees in Mount Pocono (Monroe County). Cloudiness and a cold frontal passage on April 1st slowly brought temperatures back to seasonal levels in early April.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
10 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Heat, Bucks
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Bucks forecast zone
Heat, Carbon
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Carbon forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 40.918, -75.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat, Chester
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Chester forecast zone
Heat, Delaware
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Delaware forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat, Lehigh
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Lehigh forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 40.613, -75.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat, Monroe
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Monroe forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 41.058, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat, Montgomery
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Montgomery forecast zone
Heat, Northampton
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Northampton forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 40.754, -75.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heat, Philadelphia
- When
- March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Philadelphia forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 40.008, -75.134 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Heat
- Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Ohio, March 27, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, March 27, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Utah, March 27 to 30, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, March 27, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, March 27, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, March 27, 1998
- High Wind in Oklahoma, March 27, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, March 27, 1998
- Heat in Maine, March 27 to 31, 1998
- Heat in New York, March 27 to 31, 1998
- Heavy Rain in Colorado, March 27, 1998
- Heat in Virginia, March 27 to 31, 1998
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, March 1998
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5636840, 5636841, 5636842, 5636843, 5636844, 5636845, 5636846, 5636847, 5636848, 5636849.