A low pressure system from the Gulf of Mexico brought a winter storm of snow, sleet and freezing rain to Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos and a lighter mix of wintry precipitation throughout the rest of Eastern Pennsylvania. In the Poconos, snowfall accumulations averaged 1 to 3 inches, but ice accretions reached half an inch. Pine trees were bending to the ground in Saylorsburg (Monroe County). In Berks County and the Lehigh Valley, snowfall accumulations were generally less than half an inch and ice accretions averaged around half an inch. Elsewhere in Eastern Pennsylvania, there was little if any snow and ice accretions were less than one quarter of an inch. Precipitation started as light snow throughout Eastern Pennsylvania around midnight EST on the 6th. Precipitation changed to sleet and freezing rain around 3 a.m. EST, except it took until 7 a.m. EST in the Poconos. Precipitation changed to plain rain in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. EST and between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. EST in Berks County and the northwest Philadelphia suburbs. The change to plain rain took until around Noon EST in the Lehigh Valley and most of the afternoon to work its way through the Poconos. Temperatures during the day were marginal for freezing rain (barely below freezing) and this coupled with the indirect insolation from the sun kept ice accretions down. The worst traveling conditions occurred during the pre-dawn and morning hours. Many accidents involved single vehicles than spun around, overturned or rolled into ditches. In Berks County, a woman suffered a serious head injury when her vehicle overturned in Maxatawny Township. In Bethel Borough, a 15-year-old girl was flown to Hershey Medical Center after a vehicle she was a passenger in spun out of control on Pennsylvania State Route 501 and she was thrown out a side door as the vehicle slid down a fifteen foot embankment into a tree. Both Pennsylvania State Routes 10 and 724 were closed because of icy conditions and accidents in Robeson and Cumru Townships. Other road closures in Berks County occurred in Ontelaunee and Upper Tulpehocken Townships. Many schools had delayed openings or were closed all together as close to Philadelphia as its northwestern suburbs. It was the sixth day of the winter that schools were closed in Allentown (Lehigh County). In Berks County, about 9,000 homes and businesses lost power in Birdsboro and Shillington as ice-ladened tree limbs took down power lines. All power was restored by the evening of the 6th.  The low pressure system responsible for the wintry weather developed in the western Gulf of Mexico on the 5th. It moved northeast reaching the Tennessee Valley on the evening of the 5th and into the Great Lakes on the morning of the 6th. Its associated warm front moved north from the Carolinas on the morning of the 6th into the lower Delmarva Peninsula during the afternoon of the 6th before stalling. The occluded front associated with the primary low pressure system (It went northeast from the Great Lakes through the Saint Lawrence River Valley.) moved through the region during the night of the 6th. The initial cold air near the surface was provided by a high pressure system from Eastern Canada. It moved offshore overnight on the 5th and during the day on the 6th as the southeast flow around it brought in warmer air from the Atlantic Ocean into the region. But, it took most of the day for the warmer air near the ground to reach the Poconos.

Winter Storm in MONROE, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 01:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 18:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm in NORTHAMPTON, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 01:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 12:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Weather in BUCKS, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 01:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 09:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Weather in CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA
From 05-FEB-04 23:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 08:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Weather in DELAWARE, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 00:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 08:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Weather in MONTGOMERY, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 00:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 09:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Weather in PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 00:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 08:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm in BERKS, PENNSYLVANIA
From 05-FEB-04 23:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 09:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm in CARBON, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 01:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 18:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm in LEHIGH, PENNSYLVANIA
From 06-FEB-04 01:00:00 to 06-FEB-04 12:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC