Drought, Philadelphia
- When
- December 28, 12:00 AM EST
- Where
- Philadelphia forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
- Coordinates
- 40.008, -75.134 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought in Pennsylvania, December 28, 2001
When no snow fell in Philadelphia on December 27th, it was the latest into the winter season that it did not snow in the city. All other seasons, at least a trace of snow had fallen by the 27th of December.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
- 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.
When no snow fell in Philadelphia on December 27th, it was the latest into the winter season that it did not snow in the city. All other seasons, at least a trace of snow had fallen by the 27th of December. The previous latest record was December 27, 1990. Snow did not fall (and only a trace at that) in the city until January 6, 2001.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 27, 3:45 PM EST, 8 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 27, 3:45 PM EST, 8 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 345 PM EST THU DEC 27 2001 BKN CLOUDS CONTINUE ACROSS THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON AS SHORT WAVE ADVANCES THROUGH THE AREA. RADAR INDICATING SOME ECHOES ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE CWA...BUT APPEARS TO BE MOSTLY VIRGA WITH LOWER LAYERS PRETTY DRY. MPO HOWEVER HAS REPORTED -SN ON OCCASION...SO WILL MENTION SCATTERED FLURRIES IN THE FAR NW ZONES FOR THIS EVENING. CLOUDS SHOULD DISSIPATE OVERNIGHT AS NVA SETTLES OVER THE REGION. IF ENOUGH CLEARING OCCURS...TEMPS SHOULD FALL TO LOWER END OF GUIDANCE (MAYBE EVEN BELOW GUIDANCE IN USUAL RADIATIONAL SPOTS IN SERN NJ). H5 LOW WILL PIVOT FROM SRN ONTARIO TODAY TO SRN QUEBEC ON FRI...WITH SERIES OF SHORT WAVES ROTATING AROUND THE BASE. THE ETA/AVN ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH EACH OTHER AND PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS. ONE OF THE SHORT WAVES WILL APPROACH ON FRI...WITH CLOUDS INCREASING IN ADVANCE. THE SHORT WAVE IS PROGGED TO MOVE THROUGH AROUND 6Z SAT. WILL MENTION CHANCE OF FLURRIES IN FAR NERN ZONES FRI AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THROUGH SAT...AS YET ANOTHER SHORT WAVE APPROACHES. AVN IS THE WETTER OF THE MODELS AS USUAL...AND BRINGS MEASURABLE PRECIP INTO NRN ZONES LATE FRI. H8 TEMPS IN THE PHL AREA APPROXIMATELY -12C TODAY...AND WARM UP A BIT TO -8C ON FRI AND -9C ON SAT. AFTER SHORT WAVE MOVES THROUGH SAT NIGHT...STRONG CAA KICKS IN AND TEMPS WILL FALL BELOW NORMAL LEVELS ON SUNDAY...AND CONTINUE INTO THE NEW YEAR. ON THE MARINE...THE SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY WILL BE CONTINUED NORTH OF LITTLE EGG INLET NJ...WITH A HEADLINE FOR SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED FOR FRI AND FRI NIGHT ELSEWHERE. FCSTID = 22 MPO 15 31 19 30 / 20 20 20 20 ABE 18 34 22 33 / 20 20 20 20 RDG 19 35 23 34 / 20 20 20 20 PHL 26 41 28 40 / 10 20 20 10 12N 17 32 21 31 / 20 20 20 20 SMQ 22 37 24 36 / 10 20 20 10 TTN 23 38 25 37 / 10 20 20 10 MIV 17 42 23 41 / 10 10 20 10 ACY 28 42 31 42 / 10 10 20 10 ILG 24 40 27 40 / 10 20 20 10 DOV 25 43 27 42 / 10 10 20 10 GED 26 44 28 43 / 10 10 20 10 ESN 25 43 27 42 / 10 10 20 10 .PHI... DE...NONE. MD...NONE. NJ...NONE. PA...NONE. MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NORTH OF LITTLE EGG INLET NJ. JAQ
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Drought
- A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heavy Snow in Ohio, December 28 to 30, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, December 28 to 30, 2001
- Winter Storm in Michigan, December 28 to 29, 2001
- High Wind in Hawaii, December 28 to 31, 2001
- Winter Weather in West Virginia, December 28 to 29, 2001
- Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, December 28, 2001
- Winter Storm in California, December 28 to 29, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 28, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Montana, December 28, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Montana, December 28, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Montana, December 28, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Wisconsin, December 28 to 29, 2001
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, December 2001
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: 5274266.