Heat — Montgomery, Pennsylvania

1999-06-07 to 1999-06-08 · Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

A large high pressure system over the southeastern United States pumped in a hot and humid air mass across most of Eastern Pennsylvania for three days. The hottest day was the 8th. A weak trough brought in slightly cooler and considerably drier air on the 9th, although high temperatures still reached around 90 degrees. A stronger backdoor cold front (it moved from north to south) brought in considerably cooler air into the region the evening of the 9th. There were two heat related deaths in Montgomery County. The high temperature of 95 degrees on the 8th at the Philadelphia International Airport established a new record high for the day and already matched the hottest day in the city for all of 1998. Two heat related deaths and at least one heat related injury occurred in Montgomery County. A 62-year-old man was found dead on the third floor of his apartment in Pottstown. An 85-year-old man collapsed in his garage in Royersford. In and around Philadelphia, many school districts that did not have air conditioning dismissed their children early or rotated classes through air conditioned sections of the school. Area health departments issued hot weather health warnings called "code red" to alert and assist the elderly. In Philadelphia search teams went looking for the homeless. In Delaware County fans were distributed to the elderly. PECO Energy reported the highest power usage of the year, about 40 percent above normal. The strain on electrical systems caused about 20,000 homes and businesses to lose power, more than half in Montgomery County after a power substation failed. Highest temperatures during this hot spell included 98 degrees at the Franklin Institute within Philadelphia, Springfield (Delaware County) and Green Lane (Montgomery County), 97 degrees in Hamburg (Berks County) and Easton (Northampton County), 96 degrees in Reading (Berks County) and Neshaminy Falls (Bucks County), 95 degrees at the Philadelphia International Airport, Pottstown (Montgomery County) and Doylestown (Bucks County), 94 degrees at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, the Willow Grove NAS (Montgomery County), Perkasie (Bucks County) and East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 93 degrees at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (Luzerne County) and 91 degrees at both Mount Pocono (Monroe County) and the F. E. Walter Dam (Carbon County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5703510. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.