Northern Pennsylvania, including parts of the Poconos, were walloped as the first winter storm of the season arrived early and dumped as much as a foot of snow in the highest elevations.
The National Weather Service had placed most of northeastern Pennsylvania under a winter storm warning Thursday night and Friday for heavy snow, but there was some uncertainty as to whether the high-end of the snowfall projections would materialize across higher terrains. It turned out those estimates may have been too low.
Among the highest snowfall totals reported: 13 inches in the Tobyhanna area of Coolbaugh Township in Monroe County, according to weather service data. Just to the south in Mount Pocono, more than 11 inches had fallen by Friday morning.
As a storm system continues to produce some additional snow and rain, some impressive snow totals have been reported so far across the higher elevations of northeast PA and northwestern NJ. This link takes you to a map display showing the latest reports: https://t.co/5IvSP1rVlv pic.twitter.com/AC60LN1jqA
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) November 22, 2024
The Scranton-Wilkes Barre area was also hard hit. While the snowfall totals there were generally less than those in the highest parts of the Poconos — around 7 inches of snow fell in Scranton — power outages were a major problem as the weight of the snow downed trees and power lines.
PPL reported more than 20,000 customers without power in Lackawanna County alone Friday afternoon. By the evening, that number had dropped slightly to around 19,000. The numbers were less in the more sparsely populated portions of the Poconos, with around 5,000 reported in Monroe County by Friday evening.
The snow may have also been a factor in two fatal crashes Friday morning, according to the Monroe County coroner.
Areas to the south and in lower elevations, including the Lehigh Valley, did not totally escape the snow despite most of the precipitation falling as rain. The weather service issued a winter weather advisory for Northampton County for most of the day as snow mixed in, but any accumulations were limited to under an inch.
The precipitation came at a much-needed time with the region in the midst of record-breaking dryness, which has led to drought watches and burn bans. Just over an inch of rain fell between Wednesday and Friday at Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Although the precipitation will help, it won’t nearly be enough to end the drought, according to the weather service. Some areas of eastern Pennsylvania remain around 5 to 9 inches below average precipitation over the last 3-month period. However, the rain and snow will reduce the wildfire threat, the weather service said.
Much of our area remains in an extreme to near record breaking rainfall deficit over the past 90 days by upwards of about 5 to 9 inches. Year to date deficits are roughly near 3 to 5 inches, but some localized areas are better or worse than that. (3/3) #PAwx #NJwx #DEwx #MDwx pic.twitter.com/g3mc2XXS2v
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) November 22, 2024
Here are snowfall totals reported by the weather service across eastern Pennsylvania as of Friday evening:
Berks County
- Huffs Church 2.5 in
- Reading Regional Airport T in
Carbon County
- Lake Harmony 2.4 WNW 9.5 in
- Weatherly 5.2 in
- Hudsondale 4.0 in
- Jim Thorpe 0.6 in
Chester County
- West Caln Twp 1.3 in
- Honey Brook 0.6 in
- East Nantmeal Twp 0.3 in
- 1 ENE Paoli 0.1 in
Lehigh County
- Salisbury Twp 0.3 in
- Lehigh Valley International T in
Monroe County
- Tobyhanna 13.0 in
- 1 N Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport 11.5 in
- Mount Pocono 0.7 N 9.4 in
- Blakeslee 9.0 in
- Pocono Pines 7.4 in
- Blakeslee 7.0 in
- 1 NNW Pocono Summit 4.8 in
- Canadensis 1.6 in
Northampton County
- Bushkill Twp 0.8 in
Philadelphia County
- Philadelphia Intl Airport T in
