Heat in Pennsylvania, January 27 to 30, 2002

Name: Heat in Pennsylvania, January 27 to 30, 2002
Start: 2002-01-27T12:00
End: 2002-01-30T18:00
Location: Pennsylvania

January 27 to 30, 2002 · NWS PHI · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

A strong ridge of high pressure at the surface and higher levels of our atmosphere brought unseasonably warm air into Pennsylvania from January 27th through the 30th. This cemented another unseasonably warm and dry month across the region. High temperatures were in the 60s and even some record breaking 70s on the 29th (the warmest day). A cold front dropped through the state late in the day on the 30th and lowered temperatures closer to seasonable levels on the 31st. Highest temperatures included 73 degrees at the Franklin Institute within Philadelphia and Neshaminy Falls ( Bucks County), 72 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport and Crum Creek (Delaware County), 71 degrees at the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, 69 degrees in Doylestown (Bucks County) and Valley Forge (Chester County), 68 degrees in Pottstown (Montgomery County), 67 degrees in Reading (Berks County), 66 degrees at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 65 degrees in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 63 degrees in Bath (Northampton County) and 59 degrees in Mount Pocono (Monroe County). The high temperature in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County) reached 60 degrees for three consecutive days from the 27th through the 29th, the first time it occurred during January. January monthly mean temperatures averaged around 7 degrees warmer than normal, but did not crack the top ten in most locations. One place where it did was in East Stroudsburg, where the monthly mean temperature of 34.1 degrees (8.7 degrees above normal) was the sixth warmest January on record. The monthly mean temperature at the Philadelphia International Airport was 39.2 degrees, 6.9 degrees above normal.

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 Jan 27, 8:10 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 8:10 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
810 AM EST SUN JAN 27 2002

EVEN WITH THE VERY LARGE DIURNALS EXPECTED...OKX/WAL MORNING
SOUNDINGS TODAY INDICATE TEMPS SHOULD GET TO 60 MOST INLAND SOUTHERN
AREAS AND 50S ELSEWHERE. THE COLD WATER AT THE COAST WITH A S TO SW
GRADIENT SHOULD ALSO LIMIT TEMPS THERE. THEREFORE, I WILL RAISE FCST
HIGHS TODAY ABOUT A NOTCH. NO RECORDS EXPECTED WITH THEM RUNNING
5-10 DEGREES ABOVE FCST HIGHS.

RNS

.............................................
LOOKS PRETTY QUIET TIL MIDWEEK WHEN WINT MAY APPEAR AGN. FOR NOW...
MENTIONING PSBL MXD PCPN IN NRN ZONES WED NGT AND THU AS AVN/MRF
SHOW ARCTIC FNT SAGGING S INTO THE FCST AREA. WONT GET REAL CUTE
WITH THE TIMING SINCE IT WL PRBLY CHG BTWN NOW AND THEN.

ZONES WIBIS AT 415 AM.

.PHI...NONE.

KRAUS

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Berks

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 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)

Heat, Bucks

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Carbon

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Carbon forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.918, -75.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Chester

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Delaware

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 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)

Heat, Lehigh

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Lehigh forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.613, -75.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Monroe

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.058, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Montgomery

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Northampton

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 PM EST
Where: Northampton forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.754, -75.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Philadelphia

When: January 27, 12:00 PM EST to January 30, 6:00 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

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

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, January 2002

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: 5277602, 5277603, 5277604, 5277605, 5277606, 5277607, 5277608, 5277609, 5277610, 5277611.