Winter Weather — Monroe, Pennsylvania

2013-12-26 · Monroe, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

An upper air disturbance caused a burst of heavy snow to fall across Berks County and the western Philadelphia suburbs during the morning of the 26th. While amounts were not heavy, it coincided with the morning commute and caused multiple accidents and closures of major roadways. Snowfall in Berks County and western Chester County averaged around two inches. Snowfall in northwest Montgomery County, the western Lehigh Valley and the western Poconos averaged around one inch. The disturbance weakened quickly as it moved farther east in Pennsylvania and only a trace of snow fell in Philadelphia.

Multi-vehicular accidents led to the closures of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 78. In Berks County, two westbound crashes around 8 a.m. EST on Interstate 78 closed the westbound lanes for seven hours between the Krumsville and Lenhartsville interchanges in Greenwich Township. Forty-four people were injured and twenty-five required hospitalization. Thirteen people were entrapped within their vehicles. To the south, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, four separate crashes that involved thirty-five vehicles just east of the Reading/Lancaster exchange closed the westbound lanes at the Morgantown interchange for more than eight hours. The crashes occurred just west of the Interstate 176 exchange in Caernarvon Township shortly after 9 a.m. EST. Two people were critically injured and ten people overall required hospitalization. Elsewhere in Berks County, hundreds of motorists were stranded for hours on the westbound West Shore Bypass in Cumru Township after a series of crashes just before the Lancaster Avenue exit. A rollover crash on the eastbound West Shore Bypass just before the Interstate 176 exit in Cumru Township snarled traffic in that area. There were multiple crashes on U.S. Route 222 northbound between the Spring Ridge Drive and Pennsylvanuia State Route 183 exits in Spring and Bern Townships. In Bethel Township, Pennsylvania State Route 419 was closed after multiple crashes.

In Monroe County, a 64-year-old man was killed when his pickup truck crashed at Silver Springs Boulevard and Mountain View Drive in Polk Township. In the Lehigh Valley, accidents occurred on westbound U.S. Route 22 in South Whitehall Township and Bethlehem Township. In Chester County, another accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike briefly blocked all westbound traffic in Uwchlan Township. Other accidents in Chester County were reported on U.S. Route 30 in Caln Township and U.S. Route 202 between East Whiteland and Tredyffrin Townships. Other snow related accidents occurred in Montgomery County and along the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension in Carbon and Bucks Counties.

In the hardest hit areas, snow began falling between 730 a.m. EST and 8 a.m. EST on the 26th and fell heavy quickly, with many visibilities half a mile or less. The snow ended around 10 a.m. EST that morning.

Representative snowfall included 2.5 inches in South Heidelberg Township (Berks County), 2.3 inches in Reading (Berks County), 2.1 inches in Bernville (Berks County), 2.0 inches in Lehighton (Carbon County) and Mohnton (Berks County), 1.8 inches in Elverson and East Nantmeal Township (Chester County), 1.6 inches in Kutztown (Berks County) and West Caln Township (Chester County), 1.3 inches in Slatington (Lehigh County) and 1.0 inch in Gilbertsville (Montgomery County), Glenmoore (Chester County) and Schnecksville (Lehigh County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 487170. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.