A moist air mass ahead of advancing low pressure resulted in widespread dense fog late on February 20th and early on February 21st. The fog dissipated before dawn.
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The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
A moist air mass ahead of advancing low pressure resulted in widespread dense fog late on February 20th and early on February 21st. The fog dissipated before dawn.
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 Feb 20, 3:00 PM EST, 3 hours earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ
300 PM EST Fri Feb 20 2026
.WHAT HAS CHANGED...
Small Craft Advisory extended for the Coastal waters off New
Jersey and Delaware through tonight.
A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for the entire area for
Sunday into Monday.
A Gale Watch has been issued for Sunday evening into Monday
afternoon.
&&
.KEY MESSAGES...
1. Mist, drizzle and fog will linger into this evening before
clearing overnight, with relatively mild conditions and some sun
for Saturday.
2. A winter storm Sunday into Monday is expected to bring
multiple hazards to much of the area.
3. Remaining unsettled into the second half of next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
KEY MESSAGE 1...Mist, drizzle and fog will linger into this
evening before clearing overnight, with relatively mild
conditions and some sun for Saturday.
Nearly all of precip has now cleared the region as low pressure
passes to the northwest while secondary develops off the coast.
Except for the far south where warm front is trying to push
northward and potentially bring some partial clearing and milder
temps, it remains murky and chilly, and this likely continues
through the rest of day into the evening. In fact, with light
variable winds and plenty of moisture and warm air moving across
the region aloft north of the warm front, there is potential
for some widespread dense fog as we head into the evening before
the occluded front to the west clears us out overnight. For now
have included areas of fog in forecast with chance of drizzle,
but dense fog advisories may be required at some point.
Front moves through from west to east overnight, with west
winds and drier air clearing us out by dawn Saturday. This
should herald a pleasant Saturday, with partial sunshine and
temps rising slightly above normal, 40s to low 50s. The calm
before the storm, as it were.
KEY MESSAGE 2...A winter storm Sunday into Monday is expected
to bring multiple hazards to much of the area.
A potent H5 trough centered over the Midwest Saturday will
shift eastward towards the region Saturday night into early
Sunday morning. At the surface, low pressure will begin to
develop over the southeastern US in the exit region of the
trough. From there, the low is expected to deepen as it tracks
northeastward off the Mid- Atlantic Coast through Sunday
afternoon and into Sunday night.
Some discrepancies remain amongst model guidance, with the GFS
maintaining a track close to the coast, and significant snowfall
accumulations across the entire region. The ECM remains farther
offshore, but there has been a northwestward shift over the
past couple of model runs. Other deterministic guidance
generally falls into one of these two camps, but both outcomes
would result in accumulating snow across at least portions of
the area. Both the 12Z GEFS and EC Ensemble suites feature a
large consensus in a low track that will be close enough to the
coast to bring potentially significant impacts. In addition to
the surface cyclone off the coast, an inverted trough is
depicted in most guidance, though there is some variance in its
placement and intensity. However, these features tend to
increase snowfall amounts and rates where they set up.
The current expectation is for light precipitation to begin
overspreading the region from southwest to northeast some time
overnight Saturday night. As the low begins to approach from the
southwest Sunday afternoon, precipitation rates should begin to
increase. Temperatures during the daytime hours on Sunday are
expected to be fairly warm, so precipitation will likely be rain
or a rain and snow mix for most of the day. Sunday night,
colder air will begin to infiltrate the area in concert with the
heaviest precipitation rates. Therefore, precipitation is
likely to change to all snow, and be heavy at times. Snow will
likely come to an end from west to east by Monday afternoon.
Total snow accumulations are currently forecast to be 4-6
inches northwest of the I-95 corridor and across much of the
Delmarva, and 6-10 inches southeast of the I-95 corridor. It
should be noted that these amounts will likely need refined as
the low track and positioning of other features such as the
inverted surface trough come into better focus.
In addition to the heavy snowfall, as the low deepens Sunday
night into Monday, winds will begin to ramp up, with gusts 30-40
mph possible areawide, and perhaps a bit higher along the
immediate coast. The snow will be on the wet and heavy side,
which should temper blowing and drifting potential some.
However, some blowing and drifting is certainly a possibility.
The strong onshore flow is expected to lead to minor to moderate
coastal flooding along the Atlantic and western Delaware Bay
coasts with at least the Monday morning high tide cycle, and
perhaps beyond.
Stay tuned for updates as changes to the forecast remain
likely, and this has the potential to be a fairly high-impact
event.
KEY MESSAGE 3...Remaining unsettled into the second half of next
week.
Beyond our winter storm Sunday into Monday, we stay unsettled
for the second half of next week.
A brief area of high pressure will build in from the southwest
Monday night into Tuesday leading to drier conditions. The
pressure gradient will remain tightened Monday night but begin
to lessen Tuesday. Winds may gust upwards of 20-30 mph with
localized gusts to 35-40 mph in the Poconos. These winds will
lessen through the day Tuesday with gusts by the evening around
10-20 mph.
Our next system arrives Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
There is a low pressure system near the Great Lakes region that
drags a warm front northward and warm air advection begins. This
is helped by our high pressure system moving offshore and
sinking southeast during this timeframe which results in a
south-southwest wind that will usher in warmer air. Ahead of the
warm front, there is the chance for some light snow (mainly
20-30%). As the surface low near the Great Lakes region moves
northeast into Canada, a cold front passes through Thursday
leading to mainly rain. Depending on timing, there could be some
light wintry precipitation in the higher elevations of our
northern areas.
&&
.AVIATION /19Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...
The following discussion is for KPHL, KPNE, KTTN, KABE, KRDG,
KILG, KMIV, KACY and surrounding areas.
Rest of Today...Low cigs and vsby from mist/drizzle and
potentially fog will prevail rest of the day for most terminals,
though fog/drizzle may be less pervasive for the southern
three. Winds becoming light/variable. Moderate confidence in
details.
Tonight...Low cigs and vsby from mist/drizzle/fog linger into
the evening, with low-level wind shear developing as well.
Occluded front should clear all this away overnight with VFR and
westerly winds 5-10 kts overnight. Moderate confidence.
Saturday...VFR with westerly winds 5-10 kts. High confidence.
Outlook...
Saturday night...Sub-VFR conditions may develop late in periods
of rain and snow.
Sunday and Monday...Sub-VFR conditions are expected in periods
of heavy precipitation. Wind gusts up to 35 kt are expected on
Monday, though ceilings and visibilities may begin to improve
late in the day.
Tuesday...VFR. Gusty northwest winds possible during the day.
Wednesday...Sub-VFR possible with light rain/snow and low
clouds.
&&
.MARINE...
SCA extended through tonight for seas around 5 feet on the ocean
waters. Seas should diminish by dawn Saturday with sub-SCA
conditions during the day Saturday.
Regarding the river/marine ice, Delaware Bay continues to be
mainly ice free outside of shallow near-shore areas. Ice
coverage remains around 10-30% from the the Delaware Memorial
Bridge up to the Commodore Barry Bridge. North of that up
through Philadelphia, ice coverage is around 30-70%.
Ice coverage will continue to decline with warmer temperatures
through Saturday.
Outlook...
Saturday night...West winds 5-10 kt will shift to northeasterly
late and increase to 10-15 kt. Seas 1-3 feet.
Sunday and Monday...East winds 15-20 kt with gusts to 25 kt
early Sunday will increase to 25-35 kt with gusts to 45 kt
possible by Sunday evening. Winds will shift to northerly
overnight Sunday night and eventually northwestward on Monday,
before beginning to decrease Monday evening. Seas will increase
to 5-9 feet Sunday evening and perhaps exceed 10 feet Sunday
night into Monday before beginning to decrease Monday evening. A
Gale Watch has been issued for all NJ and DE Atlantic Coastal
Waters, as well as the Delaware Bay, for Sunday evening into
Monday afternoon.
Tuesday...Small Craft Advisory conditions expected with winds
around 25 knots and seas 5-7 feet.
Tuesday night...No marine headlines expected,
Wednesday...Small Craft Advisory conditions expected with winds
around 25 knots and seas 5-7 feet.
&&
.PHI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PA...Winter Storm Watch from Sunday morning through Monday
afternoon for PAZ054-055-060>062-070-071-101>106.
NJ...Winter Storm Watch from Sunday morning through Monday
afternoon for NJZ001-007>010-012>027.
DE...Winter Storm Watch from Sunday afternoon through Monday
afternoon for DEZ001>004.
MD...Winter Storm Watch from Sunday afternoon through Monday
afternoon for MDZ012-015-019-020.
MARINE...Gale Watch from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon for
ANZ430-431.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 AM EST Saturday for ANZ450>455.
Gale Watch from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon for
ANZ450>455.
&&
DISCUSSION...Cooper/Guzzo/RCM
AVIATION...Cooper/Guzzo/RCM
MARINE...Cooper/Guzzo/RCMHazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ 507 AM EST Fri Feb 20 2026 MDZ012-015-019-020-211015- Kent MD-Queen Annes-Talbot-Caroline- 507 AM EST Fri Feb 20 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for northeast Maryland. .DAY ONE...Today and tonight. Hazardous weather is not expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday. A period of accumulating snow is probable Sunday into Monday. Strong winds are also possible. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ
159 PM EST Fri Feb 20 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0153 PM Freezing Rain Pocono Mountains Munici 41.13N 75.38W
02/20/2026 M0.17 Inch Monroe PA ASOS
ASOS station KMPO Mt. Pocono.
&&
RCMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Several hours of dense fog was observed at Delaware Coastal Airport.
Several hours of dense fog was observed at Delaware Coastal Airport.
Several hours of dense fog was observed at Dover Air Force Base and Delaware Airpark.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Delaware in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, February 2026
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: 1315667, 1315668, 1315669.