Winter Storm — Berks, Pennsylvania

2007-12-13 · Berks, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

A cold front moved through the region on December 12th. Behind this front, high pressure settled into northern New England providing colder air into the region. An area of low pressure then developed along the aforementioned front across the Tennessee Valley. This storm then tracked northeastward on December 13th, spreading moisture across the entire region. This storm produced one to as much as five inches of snow and sleet across eastern Pennsylvania, however warmer air arrived well above the surface allowing freezing rain to fall for a time. Some places picked up about one-quarter of an inch of ice. The storm then moved out of the area during the first half of the night on the 13th.

In the southern Poconos, all the schools in Carbon County were closed on the 13th. Due to the slippery conditions on many of the roadways, there were some accidents, which included an overturned SUV on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 near the Water Gap.

For the Lehigh Valley and Berks County, the combination of snow and ice caused roadways to become slippery. As a result of the inclement weather, open schools and businesses let out early on the 13th. At 2:05 PM EST, there was an indirect fatal accident on the westbound lanes of Interstate 78 in Greenwich Township (Berks County) involving two tractor-trailers and two vehicles. One of the vehicles failed to yield and caused another vehicle to strike a tractor-trailer and then spun when it was hit by another vehicle. An 83-year old female passenger in one of the vehicles was killed, and the 50-year old female driver was injured. The slippery conditions lead to several fender benders and sliding cars. In anticipation of the hazardous winter weather, many schools closed before the precipitation started. There were a number of businesses that either shut down or dismissed early, and mass transit had between 10 and 15 minute delays. Travel by air was also impacted as cancellations and delays were reported at the Lehigh Valley International Airport. There were about 160 customers without power, and power was completely restored at 3:30 AM EST on the 14th.

For the northern and western suburbs of Philadelphia, ice built-up on trees in North Coventry (Chester County) due to freezing rain. The icing created hazardous road conditions, particularly on untreated surfaces, with traffic even stalled in some areas. The ice build-up downed some trees and trees limbs in some areas including the Phoenixville area (Chester County), and trees were completely covered in ice in the Horsham area (Montgomery County). Three school districts in Montgomery County and six in Bucks County closed early, with after school activities cancelled at several districts. In total however, some 60 schools closed early or sent students home early. An Outlet Center in Limerick (Montgomery County) lost power because of the icing. There were a total of 1,900 customers without power in Montgomery County alone, and when those outage numbers were combined with Bucks County, the number was greater than 10,000 customers. Some brief road closures were reported in parts of Bucks County because of minor accidents, including the Doylestown area and on the by-pass in Richland Township, with vehicles off the roads in Plumstead Township. Branches sagging from the weight of the ice touched power lines, which contributed to about 180 PPL customers losing power.

Accumulations of snow, sleet along with some ice across eastern Pennsylvania included, 5.2 inches in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County); 4.0 inches in Pocono Summit (Monroe County); 2.0 inches in Lehighton (Monroe County); 1.2 inches at Trexlertown (Lehigh County); 1.0 inch in Hamburg (Berks County), the Lehigh Valley International Airport, New Tripoli (Lehigh County), Martins Creek (Northampton County), Tatamy (Northampton County) and Souderton (Bucks County); 0.8 of an inch in Weisenberg (Lehigh County) and Easton (Northampton County); 0.7 of an inch in Glenmoore (Chester County), Honey Brook (Chester County) and Fricks (Bucks County); 0.5 of an inch in Perkasie (Bucks County); 0.4 of an inch in Palm (Montgomery County) and 0.3 of an inch in Hatboro (Montgomery County) and Doylestown (Bucks County).

Freezing rain amounts ranged from, 0.30 of an inch in Morgantown (Berks County), West Lawn (Berks County) and Phoenixville (Chester County); 0.25 of an inch in East Nantmeal (Chester County); 0.20 of an inch in Easton (Northampton County), Coatesville (Chester County), West Brandywine (Chester County), West Grove (Chester County) and Westtown (Chester County) and 0.1 of an inch in Fricks (Bucks County), Exton (Chester County) and Royersford (Montgomery County). Some ice was reported in Warrington (Bucks County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 69067. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.