Heat in Pennsylvania, July 25 to 27, 2005

Name: Heat in Pennsylvania, July 25 to 27, 2005
Start: 2005-07-25T09:00
End: 2005-07-27T17:00
Location: Pennsylvania

July 25 to 27, 2005 · NWS PHI · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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: 7
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 most hottest and humid air mass of the summer so far occupied Eastern Pennsylvania from the 25th through the 27th. This air mass had as its origin the desert southwest in the United States and a ridge of high pressure aloft brought this air mass east with it through the rest of the country. The hottest and most humid day was the 27th. This was the hottest day of the year so far for most places and the highest temperatures seen in many areas since August of 2002. The combination of high temperatures and humidity levels pushed afternoon heat indices to between 105 and 110 degrees around the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area on the 27th. Five elderly persons succumbed to the heat within Philadelphia and two elderly persons died because of the heat in Montgomery County. Most were found in homes with no working air conditioners or air conditioners at all. But, an 88-year-old woman in Pottstown (Montgomery County) was found dead slumped over the steering wheel of her vehicle in a shopping center. The car doors and windows were closed. Hospitals saw an increase in the number of patients complaining about dizziness, allergies and breathing difficulties. Schools in Philadelphia whether they had air conditioning or not dismissed the children early. Delaware Park cancelled their horse racing card on the 27th. Outdoor activities for prisoners in Philadelphia were cancelled. The PJM Interconnection recorded a world record for electricity usage on the 26th: 135,000 megawatts. The PJM coordinates the movement of electricity in Pennsylvania and twelve other states from North Carolina to Illinois. On the 27th, PJM lowered voltage to certain customers by five percent due to the stress on the high voltage lines. Locally PECO Energy (in and around Philadelphia) established back-to-back record usage days of 8,209 megawatts in an hour on the 26th and 8,329 megawatt in an hour on the 27th. Both surpassed the previous record of 8,164 megawatts set in August of 2002. The utility also established an all-time daily record usage of 165.7 million kilowatts surpassing the previous record of 163 million kilowatts set in July of 1999. Other utilities also set new usage records including Metropolitan Edison (2,792 megawatts in an hour) and Pennsylvania Power and Light (7,035 megawatts in an hour). The excessive heat activated special summer heat programs in Philadelphia. Homes of the elderly were visited by field teams, "The Heatline" was activated by the Philadelphia Corporation for the Elderly, there was an enhanced daytime outreach for the homeless and the buddy system to check on the elderly was activated. Chester County distributed all the available fans they had to the elderly. Delaware County encouraged the elderly to visit their senior citizen centers. In the Lehigh Valley, free rides were given on air-conditioned buses by the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority. A code red was declared by Montgomery County. People were not the only ones suffering as repair shops were swamped with air-conditioning repairs for vehicles. Farmers were also noting that livestock was also affected by the heat as they were not eating much and were not gaining weight and/or producing less milk.A cold front abruptly ended the hot weather as it moved through the eastern part of the state late in the afternoon and early in the evening on the 27th. The highest temperatures included 98 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport and West Chester (Chester County), 96 degrees in Doylestown (Bucks County), 95 degrees in Reading (Berks County), 94 degrees at the Lehigh Valley International Airport and Pottstown (Montgomery County) and 93 degrees in Forks Township (Northampton County).

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 Jul 25, 2:55 AM EST, 6 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 2:55 AM EST, 6 hours 5 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 25, 3:33 AM EST, 5 hours 27 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 25, 3:58 AM EST, 5 hours 2 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 25, 6:30 AM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

PAZ054-251215-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
730 AM EDT MON JUL 25 2005

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO THE AREA...

AT 730 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN LUZERNE COUNTY MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
BREIF GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN CAN BE EXPECTED AS
THIS STORM MOVES THROUGH CARBON COUNTY.

WN

Special weather statement, Jul 25, 8:20 AM EST, 40 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
920 AM EDT MON JUL 25 2005

NJZ001-007>010-012-015-PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071-251600-
BERKS PA-BUCKS PA-CARBON PA-CHESTER PA-DELAWARE PA-HUNTERDON NJ-
LEHIGH PA-MERCER NJ-MIDDLESEX NJ-MONROE PA-MONTGOMERY PA-MORRIS NJ-
NORTHAMPTON PA-PHILADELPHIA PA-SOMERSET NJ-SUSSEX NJ-WARREN NJ-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ALLENTOWN...BETHLEHEM...NEW BRUNSWICK...
PERTH AMBOY...PHILADELPHIA...READING AND TRENTON
920 AM EDT MON JUL 25 2005

AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING SOUTHEAST
ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING. THESE STORMS ARE PRODUCING VERY HEAVY
DOWNPOURS AND INTENSE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING.  TWO PEOPLE WERE
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING EARLIER THIS MORNING IN HICKORY RUN STATE PARK IN
CARBON COUNTY.

IF THUNDERSTORMS APPROACH YOUR AREA...SEEK SHELTER INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO, OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA
OUTLET FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, VISIT US ON THE INTERNET AT
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/ER/PHI (ALL LOWERCASE).

AMC

Special weather statement, Jul 25, 8:51 AM EST, 9 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

8 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Berks

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Berks forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.416, -75.926 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Bucks

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Bucks forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Chester

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Delaware

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Lehigh

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Lehigh forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.613, -75.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Montgomery

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heat, Northampton

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Northampton forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.754, -75.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Philadelphia

When: July 25, 9:00 AM EST to July 27, 5:00 PM EST
Where: Philadelphia forecast zone
Deaths: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 40.008, -75.134 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heat, Montgomery	2005-07-27	88	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct
Heat, Montgomery	2005-07-27	74	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Philadelphia	2005-07-26	49	Male	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Philadelphia	2005-07-28	71	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Philadelphia	2005-07-28	58	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Philadelphia	2005-07-30	85	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Philadelphia	2005-07-31	81	Female	Permanent Home	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, July 2005

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: 5468315, 5468316, 5468317, 5468318, 5468319, 5468320, 5468321, 5468322.