Ice Storm in Pennsylvania, March 26, 2002

Name: Ice Storm in Pennsylvania, March 26, 2002
Start: 2002-03-26T06:00
End: 2002-03-26T20:00
Location: Pennsylvania

March 26, 2002 · NWS PHI · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: 2

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 large high pressure system moved across southern Canada on the 25th and was centered just northwest of Maine the morning of the 26th. It pumped unseasonably cold air into the Poconos and temperatures early on the 26th were below freezing. Meanwhile a low pressure system moved from Oklahoma on the 25th into the Tennessee Valley on the 26th. This low pumped warmer air aloft above its warm frontal boundary toward the Poconos. While it was warm enough aloft for precipitation to fall as rain, as it reached the surface it froze on contact. Precipitation started as freezing rain around daybreak on the 26th. It changed quickly to rain in some of the warmer valleys, but persisted into the early evening across the higher terrain of northern Carbon and Monroe Counties. Since most of the precipitation fell during the day and air temperatures were fairly close to freezing, roadway conditions were reported in good shape. The indirection insolation through the clouds was enough to keep most road surfaces wet and not icy. But, around one-quarter of an inch of ice did accrue on other exposed surfaces. In the early evening on the 26th, the low pressure system was nearing the area and pulled in enough warm air from the Atlantic to change the freezing rain to rain just as thunderstorms with heavier rain were moving into the Poconos.

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 Mar 26, 4:35 AM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 26, 4:35 AM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
435 AM EST TUE MAR 26 2002

INITIAL FCST PROBLEM IS ANY LINGERING FROZEN/FREEZING PRECIP OVER
NRN PART OF FA.  OVERNIGHT TEMPS REMAIN AT OR BLO FRZG IN THE HIGHER
ELEVS OF THE SRN POCONOS AND NW NJ...SO WILL KEEP THE WINTER WX
ADVISORY GOING THERE FOR A LTL WHILE LONGER.  TEMPS SHOULD WARM ABV
FRZG BY NOON IN ALL BUT THE HIGHEST TERRAIN AS SLY FLOW INCRS AHEAD
OF APCHG SHRTWV TROF AND DVLPG SFC LOW.

THE LOW PRES IS FCST TO MOVE NEWD UP THE OH VLY TDA AND INTO NEW ENG
BY WED MRNG.  THE BACKDOOR CDFNT WHICH HAS PUSHED SWD INTO NRN NC IS
FCST TO RTRN NWD LATER TDA AND TONIGHT.  LATEST ETA SUGS IT COULD
REACH SRN PART OF OUR FA LATE THIS AFTN...WHICH MAY BE OPTIMISTIC...
BUT HAVE KEPT MAX TEMPS FOR TDA IN THE UPR 50S FOR DELMARVA. CHGD
POPS FOR TDA FROM DEF TO LIKELY AS PRECIP HAS DIED OFF ATTM...BUT
THERE APPRS TO BE ANOTHER BATCH APCHG FROM OH.

SHARP CDFNT PASSAGE OVERNIGHT...FCST BTWN 06Z AND O9Z...AND SPC HAS
MOST OF OUR FA IN A SLGT RISK.  FCST INSTBY IS MARGINAL BUT WIND
FIELDS ARE STG...TYPICAL POT FOR COOL SEASON SVR EVENT. WILL INCLUDE
CHC TSTMS WITH PSBL GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN.

AFTER CDFNT PASSAGE...WX QUIETS DOWN FOR WED AND THU.  ANOTHER CHC
OF PRECIP ON FRI AND OVER THE WEEKEND.

FCSTID = 20
MPO   39  37  46  26 /  70 100  10   0
ABE   43  40  50  28 /  70 100  10   0
RDG   48  43  52  29 /  70 100  10   0
PHL   50  46  54  35 /  70 100  10   0
12N   39  37  46  26 /  70 100  10   0
SMQ   48  43  52  29 /  70 100  10   0
TTN   49  45  54  32 /  70 100  10   0
MIV   56  54  55  33 /  60 100  20   0
ACY   49  49  53  36 /  60 100  20   0
ILG   52  46  55  30 /  70 100  10   0
DOV   58  55  57  33 /  70 100  10   0
GED   58  55  57  33 /  70 100  10   0
ESN   58  55  57  33 /  70 100  10   0

.PHI...
DE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR COASTAL WATERS AND DELAWARE BAY.
MD...NONE.
NJ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THIS MORNING FOR ZONES NJZ001...
NJZ007>008.  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR COASTAL WATERS AND DELAWARE
BAY.
PA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THIS MORNING FOR ZONES PAZ054>055...
PAZ061>062.

AMC

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Carbon

When: March 26, 6:00 AM EST to 8:00 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)

Ice Storm, Monroe

When: March 26, 6:00 AM EST to 8:00 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)

What these are

Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.

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, March 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: 5286608, 5286609.