Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 27 to 28, 2004

Name: Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 27 to 28, 2004
Start: 2004-01-27T15:00
End: 2004-01-28T15:00
Location: Pennsylvania

January 27 to 28, 2004 · NWS PHI · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 7 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: 10

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.

The combination of a high pressure system over nearby Canada and a pair of low pressure systems - one that moved into the Great Lakes before dissipating and another that formed over the Virginia coastal waters gave Eastern Pennsylvania a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow. Heavy snow fell from Berks County and the Lehigh Valley northward. Some spotty light freezing drizzle or freezing rain fell throughout most of the day on the 27th. During the second half of the same afternoon as a low pressure system was forming over the Virginia coastal waters, precipitation intensity increased and heavier freezing rain and sleet began falling across the area. The exception was in the Poconos where precipitation started and continued as snow. As colder air moved in from the wintry mix changed to all snow around 6 p.m. EST in Berks County and the Lehigh Valley and between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST (From northwest to southeast) across southeastern Pennsylvania. The heaviest snow fell during the evening. Snowfall accumulations were averaging one to two inches per hour in the Poconos. The snow ended just before sunrise on the 28th, but lingered into the afternoon in the Poconos. Accumulations averaged between 2 and 6 inches with higher amounts in the Poconos. Untreated roads were slippery and numerous accidents occurred. In Delaware County, there was an increase in the number of slip and fall pedestrian accidents. In Berks County, several tractor-trailer accidents on Interstate 78 closed the roadway for several hours. The worst accident involved two tractor-trailers. One trailer was struck by another on Westbound Interstate 78 near Hamburg after it slowed down for poor road conditions. Both drivers were hospitalized. The westbound lanes of Interstate 78 were closed for five hours. A five vehicle crash closed U.S. Route 422 for one hour in Douglass Township. In Monroe County, three vehicle crashes caused injuries as they struck either trees or guy wires. In Carbon County, five persons were injured with two Sports Utility Vehicles slid into each other in Lehighton. Many schools were closed for three days (the 26th through the 28th) in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. Specific accumulations included 7.5 inches in Penn Forest Township (Carbon County) and East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 7.1 inches in Middle Smithfield Township (Monroe County), 7.0 inches in Jim Thorpe (Carbon County), 7.0 inches in Upper Milford Township (Lehigh County), 6.0 inches in Fredericksville (Berks County), 5.6 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 5.5 inches in Furlong (Bucks County), 5.3 inches in Phoenixville (Chester County), 5.2 inches in Williams Township (Northampton County), 5.0 inches in Fleetwood (Berks County), Green Lane (Montgomery County) and Perkasie (Bucks County), 4.0 inches in Newtown Square (Delaware County), 3.8 inches in Trappe (Montgomery County), 3.5 inches in Levittown (Bucks County) and Conshohocken (Montgomery County), 3.0 inches in Media (Delaware County), 2.8 inches in Exton (Chester County) and 1.6 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport. While the first low pressure system was heading off the North Carolina coast around sunrise on the 26th, another low pressure system was already in Arkansas. This low pressure system moved northeast into the lower Ohio Valley during the afternoon of the 26th and reached Ohio around sunrise on the 27th. The low moved north into Michigan during the afternoon of the 27th and remained nearly stationary as it slowly weakened during the evening and overnight. This low pressure system brought a wedge of warmer air aloft across the region. What made precipitation fall as either freezing rain or sleet was a large high pressure system over nearby Canada that fed cold air south near the surface. During the late afternoon of the 27th, a second low pressure system formed over the Virginia coastal waters. By 7 p.m. EST when it was located near the Virginia Capes, its central pressure was already as strong as the Michigan low pressure system. The Virginia low pressure system moved northeast and intensified and by 1 a.m. EST on the 28th, was located about 120 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey and by 7 a.m. EST it was about 240 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey. As this second low pressure system intensified and its upper air support moved across the Middle Atlantic States, precipitation intensity increased further and the precipitation changed to snow.

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 27, 10:35 AM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 10:35 AM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 27, 6:00 AM EST, 9 hours before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
600 AM EST TUE JAN 27 2004

DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-
060>062-067>071-271300-
ATLANTIC NJ-ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY NJ-BERKS PA-BUCKS PA-CAMDEN NJ-
CAPE MAY NJ-CARBON PA-CAROLINE MD-CECIL MD-CHESTER PA-
COASTAL ATLANTIC NJ-COASTAL OCEAN NJ-CUMBERLAND NJ-DELAWARE PA-
DELAWARE BEACHES DE-EASTERN MONMOUTH NJ-GLOUCESTER NJ-HUNTERDON NJ-
INLAND SUSSEX DE-KENT MD-KENT DE-LEHIGH PA-MERCER NJ-MIDDLESEX NJ-
MONROE PA-MONTGOMERY PA-MORRIS NJ-NEW CASTLE DE-NORTHAMPTON PA-
NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON NJ-OCEAN NJ-PHILADELPHIA PA-QUEEN ANNES MD-
SALEM NJ-SOMERSET NJ-SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON NJ-SUSSEX NJ-TALBOT MD-
WARREN NJ-WESTERN MONMOUTH NJ-
600 AM EST TUE JAN 27 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL AND
SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE...THE NORTHERN MARYLAND
EASTERN SHORE...AND NEW JERSEY EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST
COUNTIES.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN POCONOS...THE LEHIGH VALLEY AND NORTHERN NEW
JERSEY FOR 5 TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE TODAY...AND A WINTER
STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR TONIGHT...FOR THE AREA NEAR THE
INTERSTATE 95 CORRIDOR. SOME ICE ACCRUAL AND SOME MODEST SNOW
ACCUMULATION...LESS THAN AN INCH...IS EXPECTED TODAY. SIGNIFICANT ICE
ACCRUAL MAY OCCUR TONIGHT BEFORE RAIN...SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN
CHANGES TO SNOW AND ACCUMULATES 1 TO 3 INCHES BY DAYBREAK.

GALES ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE COAST AND LOWER DELAWARE BAY LATE
TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

GALES ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE COAST AND LOWER DELAWARE BAY ON
WEDENSDAY. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY.

MPD

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 winter storm, 5 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Berks

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 5:00 AM EST
Where: Berks forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Bucks

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 AM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Chester

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 AM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Delaware

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 AM EST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Montgomery

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 AM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather, Philadelphia

When: January 27, 3:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 AM EST
Where: Philadelphia forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.008, -75.134 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Lehigh

When: January 27, 5:00 PM EST to January 28, 6:00 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 Storm, Carbon

When: January 27, 6:00 PM EST to January 28, 3:00 PM EST
Where: Carbon forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 40.918, -75.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Monroe

When: January 27, 6:00 PM EST to January 28, 3:00 PM EST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.058, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Northampton

When: January 27, 6:00 PM EST to January 28, 7:00 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

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5385309, 5385314, 5385315, 5385316, 5385317, 5385318, 5385311, 5385310, 5385312, 5385313.