BETHLEHEM, Pa. — How wild has the weather been in the Lehigh Valley the last few days?
Consider that it began with a record coldest high temperature on Christmas Eve, and could end with a near-record high temperature on New Year’s Day.
According to the National Weather Service, a record of 13 degrees was set at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Saturday. It broke the old daily record of 18 degrees set in 1960, with temperature records from the weather service dating back to March 1922.
- The area set a record coldest high temperature on Christmas Eve
- It could be near 60 degrees by New Year's Day
- It's been so cold ice is flowing down the Delaware River and formed an ice circle on Monday
On Sunday, Jan. 1, the temperature is projected to reach 56 degrees, just six degrees shy of a record 62 for the date.
Overall, some easy math shows us a difference of 43 degrees between the highs for those two days. But factor in the wind chill – especially at night – and the difference was more like 63 degrees.
Though Sunday will be warm, it could be a bit wet, according to the weather service.
“There will be enough moisture and lift to produce a time of showers or even a period of rain mainly Saturday night into Sunday,” the latest forecast discussion said. “It is looking wet Saturday night for those outdoors ringing in the New Year.
“Some lingering showers cannot be ruled out Sunday,” wrote Alex Dodd, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Mount Holly office.
An ice circle forms on the Delaware
The power of Mother Nature was evident Monday on the Delaware River just south of Easton.
The appearance of a massive, rotating ice circle caught the attention of a city resident who captured drone video near Groundhog Lock along the Delaware Canal in Raubsville, Northampton County. It showed the ice slowly spinning in a counterclockwise direction and was an instant sensation on social media.
You can check it out here:
According to this story at Time.com, ice circles form as random eddies in water follow a circular route and move more slowly than the overall, downstream current. Bits of ice eventually become trapped in the vortex and, since slower water is less turbulent than faster water, more ice is able to form and accumulate. As the sheet turns, it bumps up against the shore or other chunks of ice and is, in effect, lathed down until it is round.
