High Wind in Pennsylvania, January 18, 1999

Name: High Wind in Pennsylvania, January 18, 1999
Start: 1999-01-18T15:45
End: 1999-01-18T15:45
Location: Pennsylvania

January 18, 1999 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

m. EST.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Damaging wind gusts accompanied a cold front as it moved through Chester County around 4 p.m. EST. The peak wind gusts averaged around 60 mph and knocked down numerous trees, limbs and wires in the county. The high winds knocked a tractor trailer on its side on Pennsylvania State Route 10 in Sadsbury Township. The trailer split in half. In Phoenixville, the top part and a rafter of a roof in an apartment building was torn off and struck the apartment building across the street. A downed tree damaged a trailer in West Goshen Township. Siding was ripped off several houses on Lincoln University in Lower Oxford Township. PECO Energy reported about 34,000 homes and businesses lost power in their southeast Pennsylvania service area; 24,000 of the outages were in Chester County. All power was restored by the evening of the 19th.

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Chester

When: January 18, 3:45 PM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1999 Every state in 1999 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, January 1999

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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5684623.