Winter Storm — Western Montgomery, Pennsylvania

2026-01-25 · Western Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Storm total snow and sleet accumulation totals mainly ranged from 9-12. The highest report received was 12.2 in Skippack.

Wider weather episode

A powerful and expansive storm system brought widespread heavy wintry precipitation across nearly two thirds of the width of North America, stretching from the southern Rockies and southern Plains, across portions of the Midwest, Deep South, and Southeast, into the Mid-Atlantic and New England. For the Mid-Atlantic region, this was an overrunning precipitation event, with a very cold and dry, arctic airmass in place ahead of the storm. The main low pressure center passed offshore just to the south of the forecast area.

Precipitation began as all snow across the local region during the very early morning hours of January 25th. A transition to sleet occurred from south to north after dawn, reaching as far north as the I-78 to I-80 corridors by the evening before precipitation ended. Some freezing rain occurred across the coastal plain of New Jersey and Delmarva during the afternoon and evening hours. The marine front remained south and east of the I-95 to I-195 corridors. North of the front (along and north of the I-95 to I-195 corridors, including much of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, central and northern Delmarva) into the I-78 corridor, temperatures remained in the 10s (and even single digits near the I-78 corridor) when snow changed to sleet. Total sleet accumulations between 1-3 were reported in this region, on top of approximately 5-10 of snow. North of the I-78 corridor, precipitation remained mostly all snow, where near a foot or more of accumulations were reported, though at least some mixing of sleet was reported as far north as I-80.

The snow and sleet proved very challenging to remove following the storm due to the weight and density of the ice-capped snowpack and below freezing temperatures. At least 3 fatalities related to snow removal occurred in the Lehigh Valley. Snow removal took a few days in some places. Untreated or unplowed pavement remained covered in snow and/or ice for one to two weeks following the storm.

A 17 day period of largely well below freezing temperatures began the day before this storm on January 24th and continued through February 9th. This was one of the coldest 17 day periods in several decades for much of the region at the time. Mean temperatures in the period ranged from the mid 10s to low 20s. The extreme cold preserved the ice-capped, glacier-like snowpack for approximately 3 to 4 weeks following the storm. The snowpack remained across the entire region until about the third week of February, before melting away completely in most areas due to light rainfall and low temperatures remaining above freezing for a few days.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1310023. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.