BETHLEHEM, Pa. — High wind warnings were converted to wind advisories for most areas early Monday, but not before thousands of utility customers across the region lost power overnight.
The exception came in Carbon and Monroe counties, where a high wind warning will remain in effect until 6 p.m., the National Weather Service said, noting damaging winds would continue to blow down trees and power lines, with widespread outages expected.
In the Lehigh Valley, overnight wind gusts in the wake of our latest winter storm neared 50 mph at times, and will continue to punish the region throughout the day, forecasters said.
Sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph are expected, with the wind advisory in effect through 6 p.m.
“Winds will continue to slowly subside through tonight as the low and cold front get further away from the region,” the weather service said in its latest forecast discussion, highlighting pressure rises ranging from 2 to 5 mb per 3 hours.
“Mb pressure” refers to atmospheric pressure in millibars and directly impacts wind direction and speed as wind moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. A lower mb pressure reading indicates a greater potential for stronger winds, and rising pressure indicates lower potential.
“As strong cold air advection continues, and the temperature inversion becomes stronger, it will be harder to mix the strongest winds down to the surface,” the forecast discussion said.
Winds should further relax Monday night into Tuesday, forecasters said.
Outages, temperatures
PPL Electric had around 2,500 customers in the dark around 9 a.m. Monday between Lehigh and Northampton counties, while Met-Ed/First Energy had around 2,000.
PPL said it had amassed crews at Dorney Park, Hersheypark, the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds and Kalahari Resort, and linemen stood ready to respond to outages in plummeting temperatures.
Around 9:40 a.m. Monday, it said it had restored power to more than 43,000 customers across its service area and had more than 250 lineworker crews actively working to restore power to places still out.
"We deeply appreciate customers' patience and support as we work to get the lights back on for every home and business," a Facebook post said.
Many of those linemen were working in wind chills in the teens and single digits.
“The other big story of this period is going to be temperatures,” the weather service said, noting many areas were at or very close to their daily high temperature Monday just after midnight.
“Wind chill values/apparent temperatures will likely be several degrees lower than air temperature due to windy conditions,” the forecast discussion said, with a high around 30 expected Monday and lows in the teens for most places Monday night.
“With the wind, we will be getting close to below zero wind chill values, but confidence isn’t high that a cold weather advisory will be needed, as it is uncertain how strong the winds will be by tonight,” the weather service said.
Top gusts across the region
As of 10 p.m. Sunday, Atlantic City had the top recorded wind gust of 71 mph in the mid-Atlantic region.
Gusts of 67 mph were recorded in Sussex County, New Jersey, and hit 66 mph in Ocean County.
In Pennsylvania, parts of Chester County had 62 mph gusts and Philadelphia hit 64 mph.
The Lehigh Valley’s top recorded gust at Lehigh Valley International Airport was 47 mph at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning.
