The combination of a high pressure system over nearby New England and a low pressure system moving northeast along the Eastern Seaboard produced a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain in Eastern Pennsylvania. While precipitation changed to plain rain during the afternoon in southeastern Pennsylvania, the cold air could not be scoured from Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. This caused up to half an inch of ice to accrue. Hazardous driving conditions and scattered power outages resulted. Precipitation began as snow across the region during the early morning. As warmer air moved in aloft from the southeast and south, the snow changed to freezing rain and sleet in Philadelphia around 10 a.m. EST. This change spread north to Berks County by Noon EST, the Lehigh Valley by 2 p.m. EST and the Poconos by 3 p.m. EST. The change to plain rain occurred in Philadelphia around Noon EST, Doylestown (Bucks County) at 130 p.m. EST and Pottstown (Montgomery County) at 230 p.m. EST. It took until 10 p.m. EST for the change to plain rain to occur in Reading (Berks County).Temperatures remained below freezing farther north and precipitation never changed from freezing rain to plain rain. Snow accumulations were 1 to 4 inches, with up to 8 inches reported in the Poconos. Ice accretions were less than one-tenth of an inch in Philadelphia, around two-tenths of an inch in the northern Philadelphia suburbs and around half an inch in Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. Numerous accidents were reported. In Allentown, five accidents occurred within 30 minutes when the freezing rain began. The wind instrumentation froze at the Lehigh Valley International Airport. A few flights were cancelled. About 3,000 homes and businesses lost power as the ice took down some trees and poles. In Berks County, in South Heidelberg Township, about 1,000 homes and businesses lost power when a tree fell onto a power line. In Longswamp Township, several hundred people lost power on the 15th after three trees collapsed from the weight of the ice. In Northampton County, a pole collapsed onto an Easton House. All power was restored by the evening of the 15th. Schools in Allentown were closed on the 15th. Other schools either cancelled classes or had delayed openings in Bucks, Carbon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Monroe and Northampton Counties. Specific accumulations included 8.0 inches in Saylorsburg (Monroe County), 6.0 inches in Pocono Summit (Monroe County), 5.5 inches in Lehighton (Carbon County), 5.0 inches in Tobyhanna and half an inch of ice (Monroe County), 4.2 inches in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County), 3.4 inches in Williams Township and six-tenths of an inch of ice (Northampton County), 3.0 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 2.0 inches in Phoenixville (Chester County) and Conshohocken (Montgomery County), 1.3 inches in Furlong (Bucks County) and 1.2 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport.    The low pressure system responsible for the winter storm went from near Mobile, Alabama at 7 p.m. EST on the 13th, northeast to just east of Wilmington, North Carolina at 7 a.m. EST on the 14th, near Norfolk at 1 p.m. EST on the 14th, in the lower Chesapeake Bay at 4 p.m. EST, in Delaware Bay at 7 p.m. EST on the 14th, near Hammonton, New Jersey at 10 p.m. EST on the 14th and just south of Jones Beach, New York at 1 a.m. EST on the 15th. The high pressure system that locked in the cold air near the surface retreated from Maine at 7 a.m. EST on the 14th to Nova Scotia at 7 p.m. EST on the 14th.

Winter Storm in BERKS, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 05:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 22:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm in CARBON, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 05:00:00 to 15-DEC-03 02:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm in LEHIGH, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 04:00:00 to 15-DEC-03 00:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm in MONROE, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 05:00:00 to 15-DEC-03 02:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm in NORTHAMPTON, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 04:00:00 to 15-DEC-03 00:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in BUCKS, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 07:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 15:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 07:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 13:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in DELAWARE, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 07:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 12:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in MONTGOMERY, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 07:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 15:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
From 14-DEC-03 07:00:00 to 14-DEC-03 12:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER