Monthly Summary: January 2003

2003 began unseasonably warm, but that quickly changed as a fast-moving low cut up through the state from the Gulf of Mexico and brought colder air and about an inch of rain, or ice in the North, to the state on January 1^st. Another low followed this same path and brought the first snowfall of 2003 on January 3^rd to Central Pennsylvania. 7 inches of snow fell over the region. Small amounts to a few tenths of an inch of precipitation continued daily through the 7^th of January as two more lows passed but temperatures near or just above freezing prevented this precipitation from freezing.

With the passage of a warm front on the 8^th, statewide high temperatures increased by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The seasonable temperatures did not last long, however, because a cold front on the 10^th brought a 15-degree temperature drop and small amounts of precipitation to the state. These below normal cool temperatures persisted for a few days as an area of high pressure moved through the state. On the 16^th, another cold front passed. A few hundredths of an inch of precipitation and high temperatures in the upper teens and lower twenties across the state were observed.

Temperatures crept up back near normal on the 19^th and 20^th, due to small warm front associated with the next low pressure system coming from the northwest. The cold front in this system came through on the 20^th and lowered the temperatures to back below average. Then, a trough of low pressure from the north reduced the temperatures of the state further below average on the 22^nd. As a high-pressure system moved south of the state, below normal temperatures persisted and most of Pennsylvania saw high temperatures in the teens until the 25^th. On the 25^th of January, temperatures increased slightly as a warm front from a low-pressure system north of the state moved through. But on the 26^th, the passage of the cold front brought small amounts of precipitation and temperatures back into the teens throughout the state.

Finally, temperatures returned to normal when the warm front of low-pressure system northwest of Pennsylvania passed through on the 28^th. The cold front associated with this system produced 6 inches of snow in Erie and a few tenths of precipitation throughout the state as it passed through on the 28^th and 29^th. Then the month ended with high pressure and average temperatures, and with an area of low pressure approaching from the west.

-Lorri Bazzel

January 2003 Extreme Weather Data

		Town(s)	Date(s)
Max High Temp	62	Donora	1
Min Low Temp	-20	New Castle	27, 28
Max Rain	4.10	Laurel Summit
Min Rain	3.64	Lancaster
Greatest Snow	62.6	Laurel Summit