Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 14 to 15, 2004

Name: Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 14 to 15, 2004
Start: 2004-01-14T16:00
End: 2004-01-15T08:00
Location: Pennsylvania

January 14 to 15, 2004 · NWS PHI · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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: 5

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.

An Alberta Clipper low pressure system dropped snow across Eastern Pennsylvania with the heaviest amounts in the Poconos. Snow began falling during the late afternoon on the 14th and continued into the morning commute on the 15th. Accumulations averaged one to three inches in and around the greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area as well as Berks County. They averaged around five inches in the Lehigh Valley and Carbon County and up to seven inches in Monroe County. Some schools were closed on the 15th in the Poconos. The snow led to slippery traveling conditions especially in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. In Monroe County, a 56-year-old man was killed on Eastbound Interstate 80 in Jackson Township. His vehicle rolled over and he was ejected. In Northampton County, a woman was critically injured in Lower Nazareth Township after her vehicle struck a pole. Numerous accidents occurred in the Lehigh Valley on Pennsylvania State Routes 33 and 611 and on Interstate 78. A tractor-trailer accident in the northbound lanes of Route 33 closed the roadway north of Wind Gap (Northampton County) just as the snow was arriving. The snow and detoured traffic caused gridlock in and around Wind Gap and on Pennsylvania State Route 191 as tractor-trailers were stuck on hill tops. Several accidents with injuries closed roads in Berks County. The following morning (the 15th) a fatal accident occurred in Tredyffrin Township (Chester County) when a driver lost control of his vehicle on northbound U.S. Route 202, slid across a snow covered median and was struck broadside by a southbound heading vehicle. Elsewhere on U.S. Route 202, a truck crashed into a "Jersey divider" while braking for the stopped traffic from the previous accident. Pieces of the concrete divider struck and damaged two vehicles that were heading in the opposite direction. U.S. Route 202 was closed for nearly six hours. Specific accumulations included 7.0 inches in Saylorsburg (Monroe County), 6.5 inches in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 5.5 inches in Lehighton (Carbon County), 5.3 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 5.0 inches in Jim Thorpe (Carbon County) and Forks Township (Northampton County), 4.4 inches in Springtown (Bucks County), 2.5 inches in Southampton (Bucks County), 2.0 inches in Reading (Berks County), 1.8 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport, 1.3 inches in Rosemont (Delaware County) and Exton (Chester County) and 1.0 inch in Honey Brook (Chester County). The Alberta Clipper low pressure system moved from Alberta Province Canada on the morning of the 13th into Wisconsin on the morning of the 14th, to central Ohio during the early evening on the 14th, into Chesapeake Bay just after midnight EST on the 15th and about 300 miles east of the Delmarva Peninsula by 10 a.m. EST on the 15th. Precipitation amounts were light, generally less than one quarter of an inch. The unseasonably cold air caused the liquid equivalent to snow ratio to reach as high as 30 to 1 across parts of the Poconos and Lehigh Valley. It normally averages around a 10 to 1 ratio.

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 14, 9:35 AM EST, 6 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 14, 9:35 AM EST, 6 hours 25 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 14, 5:50 AM EST, 10 hours 10 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 14, 3:56 PM EST, 4 minutes before

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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 winter weather, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Monroe

When: January 14, 4:00 PM EST to January 15, 7:00 AM EST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.058, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Bucks

When: January 14, 5:00 PM EST to January 15, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Carbon

When: January 14, 5:00 PM EST to January 15, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Carbon forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.918, -75.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Lehigh

When: January 14, 5:00 PM EST to January 15, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Lehigh forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.613, -75.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Northampton

When: January 14, 5:00 PM EST to January 15, 8:00 AM EST
Where: Northampton forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.754, -75.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, January 2004

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5384017, 5384018, 5384019, 5384020, 5384021.