Winter Weather — Carbon, Pennsylvania

2010-02-22 to 2010-02-24 · Carbon, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

A protracted winter storm dropped a wintry mix of snow. sleet and freezing rain from the Lehigh Valley into the Poconos and affected Monroe County the most. The wintry conditions led to numerous accidents including a fatal one in Carbon County. Snow spread north from the Lehigh Valley into the Poconos during the evening of the 22nd. While warmer air at the surface and aloft changed the snow to rain in the Lehigh Valley very early on the 23rd, the cold air at the surface remained entrenched in the Poconos. A wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain occurred from around 4 a.m. EST until the middle of the afternoon in the Poconos before it changed back to all snow. The snow ended very early in the day on the 24th.

A 35-year-old woman passenger and her 10-year-old son were killed on the afternoon of the 23rd after the Sports Utility Vehicle they were riding in on Interstate 80 in Kidder Township (Carbon County) went off the roadway, rolled over and struck a tree on the passenger side. The male driver was seriously injured and two other children suffered lesser injuries. On the night of the 23rd state police directed traffic off of Westbound Interstate 80 to Pennsylvania State Routes 611 and 940 and Interstate 380 because of poor visibilities.

Representative snowfall included 8.5 inches in Saylorsburg (Monroe County), 8.0 inches in Saylorsburg (Monroe County), 7.0 inches in Pocono Summit (Monroe County), 3.8 inches in Palmerton (Carbon County), 2.0 inches in Easton (Northampton County), 1.5 inches in Lehighton (Carbon County) and 0.7 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport. Ice accretions in the Poconos were less than a quarter of an inch.

The winter weather was caused by a double barrel low pressure system that were over Ohio and the Tennessee Valleys on the morning of the 22nd. They moved east into Lake Erie and the North Carolina coast respectfully during the early evening of the 22nd. By 7 a.m. EST on the 23rd, the Lake Erie low pressure system weakened and meandered around Lake Ontario. The North Carolina coastal low pressure system slowly drifted northeast and at 7 a.m. EST on the 23rd was located over the North Carolina coastal waters, 7 p.m. EST off the Virginia coastal waters and at 7 a.m. EST on the 24th was hundreds of miles east of the Virginia coast. An inverted trof that emanated northwest into the region from this low pressure system helped precipitation persist into the night of the 23rd.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 214672. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.