Heat — Montgomery, Pennsylvania

2002-08-01 to 2002-08-05 · Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

The excessive heat that began on July 28th continued through August 5th. The combination of high temperatures in the 90s and high dew points produced heat indices of over 100 each day through the 5th. A cold frontal passage late in the day on the 5th ended the excessive heat. The hottest day of this spell for most places in August was the second with high temperatures reaching or exceeding 100F in many places.The excessive heat caused nine more heat related deaths in and around Philadelphia. Three deaths each occurred in Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Seven of the deaths were under similar circumstances: persons found in their apartments with no air conditioning or no air conditioning running and room temperatures exceeding 90 degrees. A 91-year-old woman in East Norriton (Montgomery County) and and a 74-year-old woman in Philadelphia were found dead outside their homes. The excessive heat also produced record demand for electricity. Pennsylvania Power and Light set a new daily usage record (6,754 megawatts) on the 2nd and PECO Energy set a new weekend usage record on the 3rd and 4th. The heat caused electrical transformers to pop. PECO Energy reported about 26,000 customers lost power. The heat caused systemwide delays on the SEPTA commuter rail lines because of sagging lines. In Chester County, the eastbound lanes of U.S. Route 30 were closed for about three hours on the first because the heat caused the road to heave. Highest temperatures included 102 degrees at the Franklin Institute within Philadelphia, Willow Grove (Montgomery County), Perkasie (Bucks County), West Chester (Chester County) and Bath (Northampton County), 101 degrees in Reading (Berks County), Lehighton (Carbon County) and Valley Forge (Chester County), 100 degrees in Hamburg (Berks County) and Neshaminy Falls (Bucks County), 99 degrees at the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley International Airports and Sellersville (Bucks County), 98 degrees in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County) and 91 degrees in Tobyhanna (Monroe County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5317406. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.