Sleet in Pennsylvania, February 12 to 13, 2001

Name: Sleet in Pennsylvania, February 12 to 13, 2001
Start: 2001-02-12T20:00
End: 2001-02-13T00:30
Location: Pennsylvania

February 12 to 13, 2001 · NWS PHI · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

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.

A weak low pressure system developed from an inverted trough off the south Atlantic Coast the morning of the 12th. As the low moved off the North Carolina coast during the evening of the 12th, moisture spilled north into southeast Pennsylvania. A high pressure system nestled over New England left some relatively cold air near the surface. While it was warm enough aloft for precipitation to fall as rain, near the ground temperatures were around or below the freezing mark. A few hours of light sleet and/or freezing rain occurred across the region. By midnight precipitation had changed to rain in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties just as it was ending across the area. Water equivalents were generally under one tenth of an inch. Untreated roadways and walkways were hazardous, with the most slippery conditions reported in Chester County. Farther to the north, the cold air was deeper and precipitation fell as either light snow or flurries.

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 Feb 12, 7:55 PM EST, 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 12, 7:55 PM EST, 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
755 PM EST MON FEB 12 2001

PRECIPITATION ON THE INCREASE VIA LATEST RADAR TRENDS...AND WITH
WETBULB TEMPERATURES AOB FREEZING OVER MUCH OF THE AREA...AND SOME
REPORTS OF ZR- TO OUR WEST...HAVE OPTED TO ISSUE WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY FOR THREAT OF FREEZING RAIN THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR PORTIONS
OF NORTHEAST MD...NORTHERN DE...SOUTHEAST PA...AND CENTRAL AND
SOUTHERN NJ.

BELIEVE BEST LIFT CLEARS THE COAST BY MIDNIGHT...18Z MESOETA SAYS
THE EXCITEMENT...SUCH AS IT IS...IS OVER BY 06Z.

.PHI...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR THE
FOLLOWING ZONES...DEZ001-002-MDZ008-012-015-NJZ009-010-012-013-
015>022-PAZ060-067>071-

GSS

ORIGINAL AFD FOLLOWS BELOW

===============================================================

A ZONAL FLOW CONTINUES FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WITH EMBEDDED
DISTURBANCES MOVING THROUGH ACROSS OUR AREA...ONE TONIGHT AND
ANOTHER LATE TUE NIGHT INTO WED.

FOR TONIGHT...WEAK WAA MOVES OVER THE AREA TONIGHT...AND WITH
MARGINAL RH AND NON IMPRESSIVE LIFT...WENT WITH ONLY CHANCE POPS
EXCEPT FOR LIKELY IN THE DELMARVA. MODIFIED ETA SOUNDINGS INDICATE
THAT WITH MOISTURE CONFINED BELOW 700 MB...AND TEMPERATURE AT TOP OF
THAT LAYER ONLY APPROACHING -10C...CHANCES OF -ZR AND -SN ABOUT
EQUAL IN NW ZONES. AMOUNTS WILL BE SPOTTY SO WILL NOT BE PUTTING UP
AN ADVISORY ATTM.

FOR TUESDAY...SKIES CLEAR AND TEMPS WARM UP UNDER WESTERLY FLOW.
SOME CLOUDS START TO SNEAK IN LATE AHEAD OF NEXT DISTURBANCE.

FOR TUESDAY NIGHT...SKIES CLOUD UP AND PRECIP ARRIVES LATE. WENT
WITH RAIN MOST PLACES EXCEPT A WINTRY MIX FROM THE LEHIGH VALLEY AND
NORTH CENTRAL NJ NORTH...AS WARMER AIR AROUND 800MB STARTS TO
OVERRIDE COLDER AIR AT SURFACE.

FOR WEDNESDAY...RAIN OR MIXED PRECIP CONTINUES INTO EARLY AFTERNOON
AS WARM FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA...THEN SOME CLEARING LATE.

NOTHING ON THE MARINE.

GOODMAN/MPD

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 sleet. Local standard time, as filed.

Sleet, Berks

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where: Berks forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Bucks

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to February 13, 12:30 AM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Sleet, Chester

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to February 13, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Sleet, Delaware

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Montgomery

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to 11:45 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Sleet, Philadelphia

When: February 12, 8:00 PM EST to 11:30 PM 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)

What these are

Sleet: Sleet accumulating half an inch or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, February 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: 5232023, 5232024, 5232025, 5232026, 5232027, 5232028.