A period of record warm temperatures was experienced across northeast Pennsylvania from March 17th to the 23rd as the jet stream was pushed farther north than is typical for this time of year and persistent southerly flow developed over an unusually large area of the United States. Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania reached well into the 70s during this stretch , with some typically…
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The episode as NWS BGM wrote it up.
A period of record warm temperatures was experienced across northeast Pennsylvania from March 17th to the 23rd as the jet stream was pushed farther north than is typical for this time of year and persistent southerly flow developed over an unusually large area of the United States. Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania reached well into the 70s during this stretch , with some typically warmer valley locations near or just above 80 degrees. The climate station at the airport in Avoca broke the record for the warmest March on record, with the mean temperature nearly 12 degrees above normal.
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 Binghamton, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 16, 7:07 PM EST, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 807 PM EDT FRI MAR 16 2012 .SYNOPSIS... HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD EAST ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY BRINGING DRY... VERY MILD WEATHER TO THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL BE MORE SEASONABLE FOR MAY THAN MARCH. HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST OFF THE EAST COAST SUNDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK... WITH MAINLY DRY WEATHER CONTINUING ALONG WITH UNSEASONABLY HIGH TEMPERATURES. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... JUST MINOR UPDATES ATTM. STRONG LATE DAY SUN BOOSTED TEMPS OVER THE WRN SECTIONS OF THE FCST AREA SO HAVE UPPED CRNTS AND EVEN FRI MAX. OTRW...JUST SOME TWEEKS OF THE TEMPS FOR THE OVRNGT HRS...AND REMOVAL OF SLGT CHANCE POPS IN THE SE AS CRNTS AND RADAR SHOWS NO PCPN IN THE AREA...AND NONE FCSTD BY MODELS. PRVS DISC BLO. SURFACE LOW HAS DEVELOPED OVER CENTRAL NY THIS AFTERNOON. RESULT IS LIGHT NORTHEAST FLOW AT SYR AND THE MOHAWK VALLEY HOLDING TEMPERATURES IN THAT AREA DOWN IN THE 50S. VERY LIGHT SOUTHEAST FLOW AND STUBBORN CLOUD COVER HAS ALSO KEPT TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 40S TO LOWER 50S IN THE CATSKILLS AND EASTERN POCONOS. MEANWHILE SOUTHWEST FLOW OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NY HAS ALLOWED TEMPERATURES TO CLIMB TO NEAR 70 AT ELM. CAPPING HAS NOT ALLOWED ANY SHOWERS TO DEVELOP BEHIND THE MAIN CLUSTER OF SHOWERS THIS MORNING DESPITE WEAK LOW-LVL CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE SFC LOW. ANY SLIGHT CHC OF SHOWERS THROUGH LATE THIS AFTERNOON WILL END TOWARD SUNSET AS THE LOW AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE TROUGH PASSES OFF TO THE EAST. AFTER CLEARING THIS EVENING... EXPECT STRATUS CLOUDS AND AREAS OF FOG TO DEVELOP AFTER MIDNIGHT AS LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE PERSISTS WITH LIGHT WINDS AND GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING CONDITIONS. && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... VERY QUIET WEATHER THROUGH THE PERIOD AS HIGH PRESSURE TRACKS FROM NEW ENGLAND OFF THE EAST COAST. VERY DRY AIRMASS WILL ALLOW FOR A SUNNY DAY ON SATURDAY AFTER MORNING CLOUDS AND FOG BURN OFF. LIGHT WINDS AND MORNING CLOUDS WILL NOT ALLOW FOR FULL MIXING ON SATURDAY... BUT 850 MB TEMPERATURES AROUND +10 SHOULD STILL ALLOW FOR HIGH TEMPERATURES TO REACH IN THE MID 60S TO NEAR 70. PATCHY CLOUDS AND FOG WILL LIKELY FORM AGAIN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER DRY UNSEASONABLY WARM DAY ON SUNDAY WITH HIGHS AGAIN FROM THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S. A WEAK SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL LIFT NORTHEAST FROM THE OHIO VALLEY ON SUNDAY... OVER THE RIDGE AND ACROSS THE MID-ATLANTIC SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL STILL BE QUITE DRY ON MONDAY WITH HIGH PRESSURE DOMINATING AT THE SURFACE... BUT A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS CAN'T BE RULED OUT WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE TROUGH AND SOME WEAK RETURN FLOW BEGINNING TO DEVELOP AROUND THE BACK SIDE OF THE HIGH. ONCE AGAIN TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RUN WELL ABOVE NORMAL. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... XTNDD PD BEGINS WITH A WV EXITING OFF THE NEW ENGLAND CST. SOME SHWRS MAY LINGER INTO TUE WITH THE COLD POOL ALOFT. ECMWF LINGERS THE WV AND COOL AIR INTO WED...WHILE THE GFS IS MORE AGGRESSIVE IN POPPING THE RDG IN PLACE. LTR IN THE PD...LRG UPR LOW CONTS TO DRFT EWRD INTO THE RDG PSN WITH A SHWR CHANCE RETURNING ON THU AS THE RDG SLOWLY BRKS DOWN. SHWR RISK WILL CONT THRU THE END OF THE PD. TEMPS WILL REMAIN WELL ABV NRML THRU THE PD WITH UNSEASONABLY HIGH HGTS. && .AVIATION /00Z SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... 8 PM UPDATE... LINGERING MVFR TO IFR CIGS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHERN TERMINALS OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS WITH A GRADUAL TRANSITION TO JUST MVFR VSBYS HERE. ELSEWHERE VFR IS EXPECTED WITH A FAIRLY QUIET FIRST HALF OF THE NIGHT. AFTER 06Z...PLENTIFUL LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...AS EVIDENT BY DEW POINTS STILL IN THE 50S...WILL COMBINE WITH LIGHT WINDS AND AN INVERSION TO PRODUCE IFR CIGS AND VSBYS DEVELOPING AT ALL TERMINALS BY 08Z IN FOG. CONFIDENCE IN THE EXACT TIMING OF THE ONSET AND HOW LOW WE MAY DROP IS STILL IN QUESTION...BUT CONFIDENCE HAS GROWN THAT ALL TERMINALS WILL SEE AT LEAST IFR CONDITIONS PRIOR TO DAYBREAK. TO SHOW THE POSSIBILITY OF EVEN LOWER CONDITIONS I CONTINUED A TEMPO GROUP FOR WHEN THE WORST CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE (08Z-12Z). ON SATURDAY...HIGH PRESSURE OVERHEAD WILL KEEP BOUNDARY LAYER WINDS NEAR CALM. WITH AN INVERSION IN PLACE...WHATEVER FOG DEVELOPS IN THE MORNING MAY BE VERY SLOW TO BURN OFF WITH IMPROVEMENT TO VFR NOT EXPECTED UNTIL 15/16Z AT THE EARLIEST. THIS IS WELL SUPPORTED BY OBS ACROSS LOWER MICHIGAN AND SOUTHERN ONTARIO FROM TODAY. BEYOND THAT VFR IS EXPECTED. WINDS NEAR CALM TONIGHT OR L/V. SOUTHEAST WINDS SATURDAY AT 5 KTS OR LESS. .OUTLOOK... SUN...GENERALLY VFR BUT SOME IFR OR MVFR POSSIBLE EARLY IN FOG. MON TO TUE...GNRL VFR. CHC MVFR SHOWERS MON NGT INTO TUE MRNG. WED...VFR. && .BGM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PA...NONE. NY...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...MSE NEAR TERM...DGM/MSE SHORT TERM...MSE LONG TERM...DGM AVIATION...HEDEN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 259 PM EDT FRI MAR 16 2012 NYZ009-015>018-022>025-036-037-044>046-055>057-062-PAZ038>040-043- 044-047-048-072-171900- NORTHERN ONEIDA-YATES-SENECA-SOUTHERN CAYUGA-ONONDAGA-STEUBEN- SCHUYLER-CHEMUNG-TOMPKINS-MADISON-SOUTHERN ONEIDA-CORTLAND-CHENANGO- OTSEGO-TIOGA-BROOME-DELAWARE-SULLIVAN-BRADFORD-SUSQUEHANNA- NORTHERN WAYNE-WYOMING-LACKAWANNA-LUZERNE-PIKE-SOUTHERN WAYNE- 259 PM EDT FRI MAR 16 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK...SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK AND NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MSE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
Temperatures across northeast Pennsylvania were anomalously warm for the month, with the warmest stretch occurring from the 17th to the 23rd when temperatures reached well into the 70s, with readings as high as the lower 80s in typically warmer valley locations.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, March 2012
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: 373337, 373338, 373339, 373340, 373341, 373342, 373343, 373344.