Drought in Pennsylvania, July 1 to 31, 2002

Name: Drought in Pennsylvania, July 1 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-07-01T00:00
End: 2002-07-31T23:59
Location: Pennsylvania

July 1 to 31, 2002 · NWS PHI · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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: 8

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.

The unseasonably warm and dry weather across Eastern Pennsylvania during the month of July intensified drought conditions. A drought emergency remained in effect for most of Eastern Pennsylvania with mandatory watering restrictions in place. Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks Counties were under drought warning status and asked to voluntarily conserve water. Only Carbon and Monroe Counties were in drought watch status. The Delaware River Basin Commission, which oversees water supply throughout the Delaware River Basin declared a "drought" on December 3, 2001 when the supply of water in the New York City reservoir system dropped below a designated level for early December. The commission declared a drought emergency on December 18, 2001. Both triggered additional reductions in the amount of water released from the reservoirs into the Delaware River and the amount diverted out of the Delaware River Basin to New York City and New Jersey. Diversions to New York City dropped from 800 million gallons a day to 520 million gallons a day. The emergency declaration gave the commission the power to restrict the amount of water suppliers could draw from the basin. It gave the commission the authority to take water from municipal reservoirs to maintain river levels. It could also call for water releases from federal, state and privately owned reservoirs. Water from Lake Nockamixon, the F.E. Walter Reservoir and Lake Wallenpaupack could be used to maintain river levels. Releases from the F.E. Walter Dam were reduced to one-third of normal to save water. They were last used for this purpose in the 1960s. The releases help protect the riverbank and aquatic life and also prevents salt water from flowing up the Delaware River. Salt water intrusion causes corrosion problems for industries and increases water treatment costs for municipalities that depend on the river for their water supply. Maintaining river levels are also important for groundwater reserves that are recharged by the river itself. Due to the dry July, the salt front went from mile marker 62 north to mile marker 73, one mile farther upstream than is normal for July. The emergency declaration also gives the commission the power to request that utilities and other companies that use more than one million gallons of water a day to prepare contingency plans to use less water and submit the plans to the commission. On a county weighted average July monthly precipitation totals ranged from 0.8 inches in Berks County to 2.1 inches in Philadelphia County. Chester, Delaware and Lehigh Counties all averaged less than one inch of precipitation. Normal monthly precipitation is around 4.3 inches. The New York City Reservoirs which feed the Delaware River decreased for 89.0 percent of capacity on July 1st to 77.1 percent of capacity on July 31st. On July 31st the salt front on the Delaware River was about one mile farther upstream than normal. For the month streamflow on the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers was about 75 percent of normal and on the Schuylkill River was about half of normal. July total monthly precipitation was 0.35 inches at the Reading Regional Airport, 1.15 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport and 2.12 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport.

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 Jun 30, 1:35 PM EST, 10 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 30, 1:35 PM EST, 10 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
235 PM EDT SUN JUN 30 2002

MDLS DID NOT INIT HI RDG WELL AT 12Z. IT APRS TO BE ALG THE WI/IL
BDR VS STL BASED ON THE 12Z UA. THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR THEIR
SHRTWV FCSTS MON/TUE AND THE INCLUSION/EXCLUSION OF ANY THUNDER.
OTRWISE THE AVN IN THE SHORT TERM SEEMS OK THRU TUE AS A COMP MDL
BETWEEN THE HOTTER NGM AND COOLER ETA. ITS LO LVL TEMP FIELDS SEEMED
TO HAVE INIT BETTER THAN THE ETA (TOO COOL). NEVERTHELESS FCSTD HEAT
INDICES APR THEY WILL REACH 100-105 ON TUE AND PSBLY WED AND WE WILL
BE ISSUING AN EXCESSIVE HEAT OUTLOOK STATEMENT WITH THIS PKG. OF
LATE THE MDLS SEEM TO BE PRETTY GENEROUS WITH THEIR MEAN RH FCSTS.
ONE WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE CLOUDIER. THUS ETA MOS MAY BE BIASED BY
THIS FOR WED. ON THE OTHER HAND WOULD BLV SOME OF THE SUN/S ENERGY
WOULD BE GOING TOWARD EVAP NEXT FEW DAYS AS JUNE (ESP THE 2ND HALF)
WAS WETTER THAN NML. LONGER RNG MDLS CONT TO AGREE TO DISAGREE. THE
ECMWF WOULD KEEP US BAKED...THE AVN/MRF WOULD MAKE IT A DELIGHTFUL
WEEKEND...ESP IN NEW ENG. THE TRUTH IS PBLY SOMEWHERE BTWN...MAYBE A
REPEAT OF THIS PAST WEEKEND.

SOME TCU HAVE BEEN DVLPG ACRS OUR NRN ZNS TAFTN. FCSTD CAP IS
WEAKEST THERE AND WE WILL SEE IF WE WILL HAVE TO INCLD SOME LOW CHC
ERLY IF CVRG WARRANTS. OTRWISE FOG BANK S OF LONG IS HAS NOT MADE
MUCH WWD PROG DURG THE DAYLIGHT HRS. LLVL WIND FIELD FCST WILL BE
FROM THE E-SE FOR A BIT THIS EVE B4 THE SWRLYS ARE SUPPOSE TO TAKE
OVR. CUR PLANS ARE NOT TO PUT SOME PATCHY FOG IN OUR MARINE OR HAZE
PUBLIC ZONES. GUID MIN TEMPS ARE CLOSE FOR TNGT AND LOOK RSNBL GIVEN
CUR DEWPTS.

ON MON WE WILL BE EXPANDING THE MNTN OF TSRA A BIT FTHR TO THE S IN
NJ. ETA/S FCSTD INSTAB IS NOW GREATER ON MON THAN TUE AND ALSO MORE
PREVALENT ACRS OUR SERN ZNS. THIS DOES NOT APPEAR LOGICAL GIVEN THE
GENERAL TREND OF HOTTER LWR ATMOS AIR STREAMING ACRS NWRN ZNS. IF
ANYTHING THE CUR CAP IS STGR S THAN N AND A SWD DRIFT OF THIS FEAT
WOULD PUT OUR NRN ZNS AT MOST RISK. LO CONFID ABT SHRT WV POSN BUT
SINCE WE ARE GOING WITH THE AVN...THIS WOULD INCR THE CHC MORE IN
NJ THAN PA. ETA NOW PAINTING CNSDRBLY MORE DRY AIR AT MID LVLS THAN
IT DID YDA. ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE CASES WHERE THE CHC OF AN AFTN TSRA
IS RATHER LOW...BUT IF ONE FORMS WE COULD GET ONE OR TWO SVR
PULSERS. AVN FULL SUN MAXT MACRO FOR PHL IS 89. THIS APRS LOW GIVEN
ITS OWN INCR IN FCSTD H10-H8.5 THICK. ETA/NGM MOS LOOK BETTER. ALL
THE MDLS HAVE SIMMERED THE TD/S DOWN A TAD. THIS SEEMS OK GIVEN THE
SWRLY WINDS TMRW ARE NOT THAT IMPRESSIVE AND LO-MID 60S DEWPTS ARE
AS FAR S AS NC. STILL MORE HUMID THAN TDY WITH AFTN HEAT INDICES IN
THE 90S MOST ZONES.

WILL REMOVE ANY MNTN OF PCPN FOR MON NGT AND CONFINE IT TO ONE
PERIOD. TSRA S/B DIURNALLY DRIVEN. GUID MIN TEMPS ARE CLSLY
CLUSTERED AND WILL USE. THE COMBO OF BOTH HEAT AND HUMIDITY SHLD
INCR FOR TUE AS SOME OF THAT HOT AIR RISING NEWD FROM INL STARTS TO
GET SHUNTED EWD AND DROP S ACRS THE NRN PART OF OUR CWA. DEWPTS ARE
PRETTY HI INTO THE WRN GRTLKS AND THIS TOO HAS TO PASS THRU US.
WOULD SUSPECT TD/S MAY BE A BIT HIGH ON TUE...BUT WOULD NOT THINK
WE/D GET ANOTHER DAY OF TD/S IN THE 60S CWAWIDE. DUE TO THE RECENT
MOIST CONDS NGM MOS MAX TEMPS WILL NOT BE USED. ETA/AVN FULL SUN
MACROS GIVE US LO-MID 90S WHICH SEEM SO-CALLED BETTER. THIS COMBO
WOULD GIVE US AFTN HEAT INDICES BTWN 100-105. SINCE THERE ARE DIF
TRIGGERS (SUBURBAN/OUTLYING 105 VS 100 FOR URBAN) FOR ISSUING
EXCESSIVE HEAT ADVY/WRNGS AND AFT COORD WITH LWX WE HAVE OPTED TO
ISSUE AN EXCESSIVE HEAT OUTLOOK STATEMENT FOR NOW AND LET LATER
SHIFTS FINE TUNE GEO EXTENT. LO CONFID FOR MAX TEMPS ALG THE CST ON
TUE. ETA HINTING AT A MORE WRLY FLOW WHICH MIGHT KEEP SEABREEZE OUT.
FOR NOW WE ARE HINTING AT A BIT OF A SEABREEZE VIA THE AVN. AS FAR
AS THUNDER IS CONCERNED THE ETA WAS LESS UNSTABLE TUE THAN MON. THE
AVN WAS MORE SO AND A BIT MORE LOGICAL AGN (NW ZONES). WE WILL KEEP
A CHC OF AN AFTN TSRA IN MOST ZONES. AGAIN THE ETA IS SUGG IT WOULD
BCM TOO MOIST FOR PULSERS TUE.

WE/LL BE A BIT MORE CONSER WITH THE CFP/DRYING OUT THAN THE AVN HAS
TO OFFER MAKING WED ANOTHER HOT/HUMID DAY.

MARINE: NO PBLMS. CAPE MAY/LEWES FERRY HAD FLAT SEAS THIS MRNG AND
AFTN

TU FOR COORD LWX.

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

TFG

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Berks

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Berks forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Bucks

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL

Drought, Chester

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL

Drought, Delaware

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Lehigh

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Lehigh forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 40.613, -75.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Montgomery

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL

Drought, Northampton

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Northampton forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 40.754, -75.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Philadelphia

When: July 1, 12:00 AM EST to July 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Philadelphia forecast zone
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 40.008, -75.134 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, July 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: 5308878, 5308879, 5308880, 5308881, 5308882, 5308883, 5308884, 5308885.