Ice Storm — Onondaga, New York

2003-04-04 to 2003-04-05 · Onondaga, New York

Wider weather episode

A stationary front was west to east across Pennsylvania during the 3rd and 4th of April. Areas of low pressure moved along the front bringing precipitation to upstate New York. A large area of high pressure, centered over Hudson Bay Canada helped to keep cold air at the surface. The morning of the 5th low pressure moved northeast to Erie, Pennsylvania then to northeast New York that evening. A trailing cold front brought with it an end to the precipitation from west to east. Patchy freezing rain was across these counties first the night of the 3rd into the 4th. At this time the freezing rain was most widespread in Northern Oneida County. Steady widespread freezing rain started during the day of the 4th across Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison Counties. During the evening of the 4th colder air spread further south into the Finger Lakes and northern Susquehanna Region. This changed moderate rain to freezing rain in these areas especially at the higher elevations. Across northern Oneida County the freezing rain changed to snow. The snow accumulated up to five inches. Ice accumulations were mostly a quarter to half an inch with a few locations up to an inch. The Schuyler County Emergency Manager reported an inch of ice across most of the county. Tens of thousands of electricity customers were without power, some for up to a week. States of emergencies were declared for most of these counties. A federal disaster was declared by President Bush in Onondaga, Cayuga, Chenango, Oneida, and Yates Counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5353004. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.