PA Climate Office

Month-to-date, much of the higher terrain of western and northern PA is above average for precipitation, while southeast PA is below average. Unfortunately, this means that areas that were dry over southeast PA continue to be dry this April. Map courtesy of @MidwestClimate.

According to the National Phenology Network, spring leaf emergence is occurring between 1-3 weeks early across the state of PA as shown by the spring leaf index anomaly loop below. #pawx

With the state's current cold snap, it may be hard to believe, but this spring has been the 8th warmest on record. This spring has been 6.71ºF above average, along with being the 23rd wettest on record with 5.48 inches of precipitation. Meteorological spring began on March 1st.

Occasionally, higher elevations to the west have warmer afternoon temperatures than the lower elevations to the east, an inversion of typical conditions. This is caused by stalled out boundaries and cold air damming events. This occurs most frequently in spring (chart below).

Pennsylvania had 99 severe thunderstorm warnings issued for the month of March as of midnight last night. To put that in perspective, the highest total recorded previously during March since 1986 was 59 in 2022. More details will be in this month's newsletter! #PAwx

Mar 24 marks the first drought monitor analysis since Dec 2, 2025 in which Centre County is entirely out of a moderate drought (D1) or worse. Thanks to PA's wetter-than-average March, most counties similarly are clear of drought, except for parts of SE PA that need the rain!

Generally, 3-5" of precipitation has fallen over the commonwealth month-to-date. As a result, with the exception of areas near the Mason-Dixon Line, Pennsylvania is on pace for a wetter than average March. #PAwx

In Sunday's (3/22) severe weather outbreak across PA, hail in Brookville, PA reached a maximum size of 1.75" in diameter. Since 2012, this is only the third event where hail reports have reached or exceeded this threshold in March. #PAwx

41 Pennsylvania weather observing sites (comprising COOP reports for 3/23 and FAA ASOS for 3/22) with at least 10 years of observations broke high temperature records yesterday afternoon. Data courtesy of ACIS. #PAwx

In addition to cold and snow, has it felt windier than average this winter? From a wind gust perspective, it was! Pittsburgh and Philadelphia had the highest avg wind gust speeds for meteorological winter. Both locations had over 30 (out of ~90) days with 30+mph gusts. #PAwx

The late Feb snowstorm that brought significant impacts to much of the coastal Mid-Atlantic and New England ended with a Northeast Snowfall Index Scale of 3.86 and a Category 2 snowstorm. This is in the top 40 most impactful NE snowstorms according to this classification.

The period from Jan 1 - Mar 1 was the 7th driest first two months of the year in State College since 1893, with just 2.65" of precipitation recorded during this time. Hopefully upcoming rain will cut into existing precip deficits across the state. #PAwx

Even with above normal snowfall since October 1st across the state, the majority of PA remains abnormally dry or in a drought, per the U.S. Drought Monitor. #PAwx

With recent snowfall, most of the state is now observing above normal snowfall since the beginning of the water year on October 1, except for south-central PA. #PAwx

Through the first 19 days of February, State College had recorded its 2nd driest February-to-date. Precipitation yesterday and today will change this status but it illustrates how abnormally dry it has been over recent weeks. #PAwx

PERSISTENT SNOW COVER With a 1" snow depth this morning at @flyHIA, Harrisburg has had 1"+ snow on the ground for 24 straight days. That's tied for the longest stretch since 2011 (33 days from 1/12-2/13). This 24-day stretch matches the mark set from 2/1-2/24 in 2021. #PAwx

Lake Erie's ice coverage has been anomalously high this winter, reaching nearly 96% by Feb 5, per the Great Lakes ERL. The abnormally cold stretch promoted rapid ice growth along all the Great Lakes, but Lake Erie's relatively shallow depth allows the lake ice to grow quickly.

With State College reaching the upper 40s on yesterday's obs card, that snapped a streak of 18 straight days with highs at or below the freezing mark, tied for the 7th longest streak on record. #PAwx

Why are there drought conditions across much of Pennsylvania? Even with most areas receiving 10”+ of snowfall since January 1st (equivalent to 1”+ of liquid, well below normal for this period), much of PA is still seeing large precipitation deficits (>50% below normal in spots).

Allentown, like many locations across the state, is creeping up the records list for consecutive sub-freezing days. They are sitting at 10 with a record high of 16 in 1961 and 1970. #PAwx