1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 12, 2:55 AM EST, 6 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 255 AM EST FRI DEC 12 2003 .DISCUSSION... COLD NW FLOW WILL PERSIST TODAY...PRODUCING CLOUDY SKIES DOWNWIND OF LK ERIE...AND SCT SNOW SHOWERS OVER NW MTNS. BUF RADAR LOOP SHOWING SIGNIFICANT SNOW CONFINED TO S TIER OF NY STATE...AND MODEL DATA SHOWS LITTLE CHANGE TO BLYR FLOW...THUS LITTLE IF ANY ACCUMS EXPECTED. DOWNSLOPING FLOW WILL YIELD PT-MSUNNY SKIES IN THE LOWER SUSQ VALLEY...WHERE TEMPS SHOULD REACH THE L40S BASED ON 850 TEMPS NR 8C. HIGH PRES BUILDS INTO THE AREA ON SATURDAY SHUTTING OFF LE AND ALLOWING SKIES TO CLEAR. HOWEVER...MAIN FOCUS WILL BE ON DEVELOPING LO PRES ON THE GULF COAST. LATEST MREF DATA TRACKS SFC LO OFF THE EAST COAST NR HATTERAS. THIS TRACK FAVORS AN ALL SNOW EVENT FOR ALL BUT PERHAPS THE SE CORNER OF THE CWA. WILL ISSUE WINTER STORM OUTLOOK FOR POSSIBLY OF SIGNIFICANT SNOW LATE SAT NITE AND SUNDAY. AS IS USUALLY THE CASE...MUCH UNCERTAINTY REMAINS 48 HRS PRIOR TO THIS WINTER STORM. A FEW MREF MEMBERS SHOW A STRONGER PRIMARY LO TRACKING INTO OHIO VALLEY...WHICH COULD TURN SNOW TO A MIX OVER CENTRAL PA. STILL OTHER MEMBERS APPEAR TO DEVELOP A CUTOFF UPPER LO...RATHER THAN OPEN WAVE...RESULTING IN 1+ INCH QPF AMTS IN COLD AIR TO NW OF UPPER LO TRACK. EXTENDED...A PERIOD OF QUIET WX SEEMS LIKELY EARLY NEXT WEEK...AS RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE EAST. NEXT IN SERIES OF POTENT DISTURBANCES TRACKS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN US TOWARDS THE EAST COAST BY WEDNESDAY. LATEST MREF SUGGESTS RAIN RATHER THAN SNOW FOR CENTRAL PA...AS SFC LO TRACKS TO OUR WEST. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... HARRISBURG 41 23 35 24 / 0 0 0 60 WILLIAMSPORT 36 20 32 20 / 0 0 0 40 BRADFORD 26 12 24 14 / 20 10 0 30 JOHNSTOWN 26 15 24 18 / 10 0 0 70 ALTOONA 33 19 29 20 / 0 0 0 70 STATE COLLEGE 35 22 32 24 / 0 0 0 50 SELINSGROVE 38 19 32 19 / 0 0 0 50 LANCASTER 40 22 33 21 / 0 0 0 60 YORK 39 17 33 21 / 0 0 0 60 && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PA...WINTER STORM OUTLOOK FOR SUNDAY. && FITZGERALD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 538 AM EST FRI DEC 12 2003 PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-121232- ADAMS PA-BEDFORD PA-BLAIR PA-CAMBRIA PA-CAMERON PA-CLEARFIELD PA- COLUMBIA PA-CUMBERLAND PA-DAUPHIN PA-ELK PA-FRANKLIN PA-FULTON PA- HUNTINGDON PA-JUNIATA PA-LANCASTER PA-LEBANON PA-MCKEAN PA- MIFFLIN PA-MONTOUR PA-NORTHERN CENTRE PA-NORTHERN CLINTON PA- NORTHERN LYCOMING PA-NORTHUMBERLAND PA-PERRY PA-POTTER PA- SCHUYLKILL PA-SNYDER PA-SOMERSET PA-SOUTHERN CENTRE PA- SOUTHERN CLINTON PA-SOUTHERN LYCOMING PA-SULLIVAN PA-TIOGA PA- UNION PA-WARREN PA-YORK PA- 538 AM EST FRI DEC 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON SOME CREEKS OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. HOWEVER...BY LATE MORNING WATER LEVELS SHOULD BE FALLING EVERYWHERE...AND ALL STREAMS SHOULD RECEDE TO BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY SATURDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK UP THE EAST COAST ON SUNDAY...SPREADING SNOW INTO THE REGION EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY NIGHT...AND MAY CHANGE TO RAIN LATE IN THE DAY OVER THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. AT THIS POINT...IT APPEARS MANY PARTS OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA WILL SEE A PLOWABLE SNOWFALL FROM THIS STORM. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY...BRINGING EITHER RAIN OR SNOW. IF THE STORM TRACKS TO OUR WEST...PRECIPITATION WOULD FALL PRIMARILY AS RAIN...AND COULD CAUSE RENEWED FLOODING PROBLEMS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
WINTER STORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 458 AM EST FRI DEC 12 2003 ...SNOWSTORM POSSIBLE FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ON SUNDAY... .LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK UP THE EAST COAST ON SUNDAY...BRINGING THE POTENTIAL OF A SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO THE REGION. PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-121958- ADAMS PA-BEDFORD PA-BLAIR PA-CAMBRIA PA-CAMERON PA-CLEARFIELD PA- COLUMBIA PA-CUMBERLAND PA-DAUPHIN PA-ELK PA-FRANKLIN PA-FULTON PA- HUNTINGDON PA-JUNIATA PA-LANCASTER PA-LEBANON PA-MCKEAN PA- MIFFLIN PA-MONTOUR PA-NORTHERN CENTRE PA-NORTHERN CLINTON PA- NORTHERN LYCOMING PA-NORTHUMBERLAND PA-PERRY PA-POTTER PA- SCHUYLKILL PA-SNYDER PA-SOMERSET PA-SOUTHERN CENTRE PA- SOUTHERN CLINTON PA-SOUTHERN LYCOMING PA-SULLIVAN PA-TIOGA PA- UNION PA-WARREN PA-YORK PA- 458 AM EST FRI DEC 12 2003 ...WINTER STORM OUTLOOK... LOW PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO TRACK UP THE EAST COAST ON SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT...BRINGING THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL ACROSS CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. SNOW WILL MOST LIKELY SPREAD INTO THE REGION EARLY SUNDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. ENOUGH WARM AIR COULD BE DRAWN NORTHWARD TO CHANGE PRECIPITATION OVER TO RAIN OR ICE ACROSS THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ON SUNDAY SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SNOW. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE LATEST WEATHER FORECAST INFORMATION AS THIS WINTER WEATHER SITUATION CONTINUES TO UNFOLD. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT... WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/ER/CTP
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall caused Swatara Creek at Middletown to exceed flood stage. The creek rose above its flood stage of 11.0 feet at 9:00 AM EST on the 12th, crested at 11.4 feet at 12:00 PM EST on the 12th, then fell back below flood stage at 3:00 PM EST on the 12th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, December 2003
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: 5330912.