Cold in Pennsylvania, January 15 to 16, 2004

Following the departing Alberta Clipper low pressure system, another arctic air mass invaded Pennsylvania. While temperatures were slightly higher than the previous outbreak on the 10th and 11th, winds were stronger and the wind chill factors were lower. Another Philadelphian lost his life because of the extreme cold. Most low temperatures were in the single numbers (They were some readings below zero in the Poconos) and the lowest hourly wind chill factors averaged between fifteen degrees and thirty degrees below zero. This second arctic outbreak set some electrical and gas usage records for area utilities. A Philadelphia man was found dead on railroad tracks within the city. His body temperature dropped to 67 degrees. The unseasonably cold weather was a dangerous situation for the homeless as well as for the elderly who could not afford to heat their homes. There was another dramatic increase in phone calls to social services by individuals who have run out of heat or could not afford to pay their utility bills. PECO Energy set a new winter time usage record of 6,450 megawatts surpassing the old record of 6,346 megawatts on January 23, 2003. The utility also came close to setting a new gas usage record. Pennsylvania Power and Light set a new all-time usage record of 7,549 megawatts surpassing the previous record of 7,155 megawatts on January 23, 2003. The cold weather caused additional schools and community centers to be opened as shelters. This was exacerbated in Monroe County when power outages in Brodheadsville, Effort and Saylorsburg caused the county to open temporary shelters in Brodheadsville and Long Pond. Many municipalities declared code blues to assist the homeless. Teams went outside to locate homeless people and get them to shelters. The unseasonably cold weather caused many pipes to freeze and burst both inside and outside of structures as well as a higher occurrence of water main breaks. Plumbers and heating repair services had twenty-four hours worth of work. In the Lehigh Valley the cold weather caused many schools, universities and daycare centers to have delayed openings. Senior citizen centers, food banks and meals on wheels were cancelled in the valley. Bus service was also delayed. In Carbon County, a burst pipe damaged a Penn Kidder Township School. In Berks County, a burst pipe flooded the Boyertown school's gymnasium with three inches of water. The cold weather also led to another increase in workload in hospital emergency rooms. Fire fighters were having problems battling blazes as the water quickly turned to ice. In some instances the water was freezing in hoses and the trucks. Fire fighters were injured slipping and falling on the ice. There was a higher incidence of chimney fires and a general shortage of firewood. Many vehicles were not starting because of dead batteries. Specific low temperatures included 12 degrees below zero in Mount Pocono (Monroe County), 9 degrees below zero at the Pocono Mountain Municipal Airport, 3 degrees below zero in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), zero at the Lehigh Valley International Airport and Lehighton (Carbon County), 1 degree in Valley Forge (Chester County) and Doylestown (Bucks County), 2 degrees in Green Lane (Montgomery County), 3 degrees in Pottstown (Montgomery County) and Hamburg (Berks County), 4 degrees in Reading (Berks County) and Media (Delaware County) and 7 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport. The arctic air mass came barreling behind the departing Alberta Clipper low pressure system on the 15th. The low deepened explosively as it moved offshore and the pressure gradient between it and the building high pressure system brought the lowest wind chill factors of the winter into Pennsylvania. The high pressure ridge moved from the Red River and Upper Mississippi Valleys on the morning of the 15th, to the Great Lakes and nearby Canada on the morning of the 16th and into Pennsylvania and New York on the morning of the 17th. The core of the coldest air moved through the region during the night of the 15th with the lowest temperatures occurring between Midnight EST and 6 a.m. EST on the 16th. Lowest hourly wind chill factors included 32 degrees below zero in Mount Pocono (Monroe County), 23 degrees below zero at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 19 degrees below zero in Doylestown (Bucks County) and 14 degrees below zero at the Philadelphia International Airport. This second arctic outbreak cemented January as an unseasonably cold month. At the Philadelphia International Airport, the monthly mean temperature of 26.1 degrees was 6.2 degrees colder than normal. It was the 13th coldest January on record and the coldest January since 1982. To add further to the discomfort, it was also the windiest January in Philadelphia in 12 years with an average wind speed of 12.3 miles per hour. At the Lehigh Valley International Airport, the 22.0 degree monthly mean temperature was 5.1 degrees colder than normal. It was the 10th coldest January on record and the coldest January since 1994.