Pennsylvania, 2012

Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, January 26 to 27, 2012

January 26 to 27, 2012 · NWS PHI · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A wintry mixture of snow, then sleet and freezing rain fell mainly over the Poconos on the 26th. Precipitation started as light snow during the morning of the 26th and then changed to sleet and freezing rain by Noon EST.

Where it happened

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.

  • 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
2

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.

A wintry mixture of snow, then sleet and freezing rain fell mainly over the Poconos on the 26th. Precipitation started as light snow during the morning of the 26th and then changed to sleet and freezing rain by Noon EST. As warmer air moved in at the surface, the freezing rain changed to rain overnight on the 26th. Snowfall was less than an inch and ice accretions were generally one-quarter of an inch or less. Untreated roadways and walkways were hazardous. The wintry mix was caused by a combination of a high pressure system moving across the Saint Lawrence Valley and providing cold air near the surface and a warm front approaching Pennsylvania from the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. As the high pressure system drifted farther to the east and the warm front entered southern Pennsylvania, enough warm air moved in at the surface to change the freezing rain to rain.

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 26, 4:39 AM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 26, 4:39 AM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 26, 6:51 AM EST, 9 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Carbon

When
January 26, 7:00 AM EST to January 27, 12:00 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, Monroe

When
January 26, 7:00 AM EST to January 27, 12:00 AM EST
Where
Monroe forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
41.058, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

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

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, January 2012

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 360864, 360865.