Strong winds with and behind a cold front caused isolated power outages and damage. Winds gusted to close to 50 mph.
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.
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 episode as NWS BGM wrote it up.
Strong winds with and behind a cold front caused isolated power outages and damage. Winds gusted to close to 50 mph. A traffic signal was blown down in Moosic in Lackawanna County. In Lackawanna County, about 1000 electric customers lost power, while in Luzerne County, about 12,000 electric customers lost power.
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 Binghamton, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 1, 3:12 AM EST, 6 hours 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY ISSUED AT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 312 AM EST WED DEC 1 2004 .SHORT TERM (TNGT - THU)... TODAY...WILL BE HOISTING A WIND ADVISORY FOR THE ENTIRE CWA...BUT WILL HIGHLIGHT THE HIGHER TERRAIN FOR GUSTS IN THE 50-55 MPH RANGE. THINK STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR TO THE N AND E OF CWA. ISALLOBARIC COUPLET IS DECENT BUT NECOMES MOST IMPRESSIVE OUTSIDE OF CWA. SECOND CONCERN IS POSSIBILITY OF FLOODING...PARTICULARLY IN THOSE AREAS THAT RECEIVED FLOODING PRECIP THIS PAST WEEKEND (POCONOS/CATSKILLS REGION). SYSTEM IS FAST MOVING...BUT ETA GENERATES SOME STRONG AND FAVORABLE MID-LVL FRONTOGNESIS OVER THIS AREA. QPFS ARE 0.75-1 INCH...BUT HIGHER AMOUNTS JUST SOUTH AND EAST. IF HEAVIEST PRECIP REGION SHIFTS SLIGHTLY NORTH AND WEST THEN MOST SIGNIFICANT QPF COULD FALL OVER THIS AREA...THEREFORE HAVE DECIDED TO ISSUE A FLOOD WATCH FOR THESE AREAS. RAIN WILL TAPER OFF TO -SHRA AND -SHSN DURING THE AFTERNOON IN ALL BUT ERN ZONES...WHERE IT WILL TAPER OFF BY EVENING. TONIGHT-THURSDAY...COOLER AIR WILL FILTER IN BEHIND THIS SYSTEM AND WNW FLOW WILL TAKE OVER...THOUGH AIR WILL NOT BE COOL ENOUGH TO PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT INSTABILITY...SOME LAKE -SHSN STILL POSSIBLE...THOUGH SHOULD BE A WEAK MULTI-BAND EVENT WITH LITTLE ACCUMULATION UNTIL SECOND 500 MB SHORT WAVE ARRIVES LATE THU. -CEMPA && .LONG TERM (THURSDAY NIGHT - WEDNESDAY)... ACTIVE PERIOD WITH FAST FLOW BRINGING SYSTEMS THROUGH EVERY TWO TO THREE DAYS. THU NGT INTO FRIDAY LES WILL BE ONGOING. WITH NW FLOW AND COLDER AIR ALOFT THE SYR AND UCA AREAS HAVE THE BEST CHC OF ANY ACCUMS. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY SHIFTING THE WINDS TO THE SW AND ENDING THE LES. 500 MB HEIGHTS RISE AND WAA. WITH NEXT STORM IN WRN GREAT LAKES WARM FRONTAL PRECIP SHOULD STAY TO THE W AND N SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. GFS NOW HAS LESS PHASING BETWEEN THE NRN AND SRN JETS SO THE LOW IN THE GREAT LAKES WILL GO NE INTO CANADA WHILE THE SOUTHERN LOW STAYS TO OUR SOUTH. AS LOWS COMBINE AND STRENGTHEN TUESDAY WINDS WILL PICK UP IN BGM CWA WITH CAA AND WRAPAROUND. SNOW COULD MIX IN TUE NIGHT THEN CHANGE OVER TO LES WEDNESDAY WITH CURRENT TIMING. -TAC && .AVIATION (01/06Z - 02/06Z)... LL WIND SHEAR WILL CONTINUE AT MOST TERMINLAS UNTIL FROPA DURING THE MORNING SHIFTS WINDS AND ALLOWS STRONGER WINDS TO MIX DOWN. OTHER THAN THAT...RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING WITH CIGS DROPPING OR REMAIN AT IFR...AND LIFR AT TIMES INTO EARLY AFTERNOON. && .BGM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .NY...FLOOD WATCH SULLIVAN/DELAWARE/BROOME/TIOGA...WIND ADVISORY ALL OF CENTRAL NY. .PA...FLOOD WATCH/WIND ADVISORY ALL OF NE PA. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 435 AM EST WED DEC 1 2004 NYZ009-015>018-022>025-036-037-044>046-055>057-062-PAZ038>040-043- 044-047-048-072-021000- BRADFORD PA-BROOME NY-CHEMUNG NY-CHENANGO NY-CORTLAND NY-DELAWARE NY- LACKAWANNA PA-LUZERNE PA-MADISON NY-NORTHERN ONEIDA NY- NORTHERN WAYNE PA-ONONDAGA NY-OTSEGO NY-PIKE PA-SCHUYLER NY- SENECA NY-SOUTHERN CAYUGA NY-SOUTHERN ONEIDA NY-SOUTHERN WAYNE PA- STEUBEN NY-SULLIVAN NY-SUSQUEHANNA PA-TIOGA NY-TOMPKINS NY- WYOMING PA-YATES NY- 435 AM EST WED DEC 1 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK AND NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY: STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL DEVELOP TODAY AS A COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH A RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING STORM SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH. SEE ALBNPWBGM FOR DETAILS. HEAVY RAINS THIS MORNING WILL COULD PRODUCE STREAMS AND CREEKS TO REACH NEAR BANKFULL, AND CAUSE SIGNIFICANT RISES ON ALREADY SWOLLEN MAIN STEM RIVERS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CATSKILLS...THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY OF NEW YORK...AND NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA. SEE ALBFFABGM FOR MORE INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...HOWEVER...RAIN SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO CALL IN THEIR REPORTS. MJC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, December 2004
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: 5429361, 5429362.