Heat in Pennsylvania, May 6 to 9, 2000

The first run of hot weather, with high temperatures that reached between 90 ands 95 degrees for up to four days across southeast Pennsylvania caused seven heat related deaths. While few daily high temperature records were set, this unseasonably hot weather followed a period of unusually cool and/or cloudy weather during the second half of April and the first week of May. Persons with underlying health problems had little time to acclimate themselves to the hotter weather. This was exacerbated by the lack of ventilation or air conditioning in their homes. In the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, a 75-year-old woman was found dead in an apartment. Her windows were open only a crack. A 77-year-old woman in the Lawndale section of Philadelphia was found dead in her apartment with no air conditioning and the windows shut. In Chester County, a 53-year-old Nottingham Township woman was found dead in her house after she left work early because of feeling ill from the heat. A series of cold fronts, one that backdoored itself from the Atlantic Ocean the morning of the 10th and a second that crossed the region in the more conventional way from the Ohio Valley that evening ended the hot weather. Highest temperatures included 95 degrees in Crum Creek (Delaware County), 94 degrees at the Franklin Institute within Philadelphia and West Chester (Chester County), 93 degrees in Neshaminy Falls (Bucks County) and East Stroudsburg (Monroe County - one of the few locations to set new daily record high temperatures) and 91 degrees at the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia International Airports and Northeast Philadelphia Airport.