Rainfall amounts in Lehigh Valley
The National Hurricane Center is responsible for forecasting all tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic, including Isaias, which sucker-punched the Lehigh Valley and the rest of the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday. From there, it takes a village. Once a tropical cyclone forms, NHC staff generate a set of forecast products and then communicate them to the outside world. It takes the use of satellites, reconnaissance aircraft, ships, buoys, radar and land-based platforms for hurricane tracking and prediction.
National Weather Service field offices, including Philadelphia/Mount Holly, ultimately use a suite of advisory products to tailor local forecasts. Over the weekend, many also used tools like instrumented weather balloons to gain a better understanding of the way Isaias was behaving.
The storm, which developed from a large tropical wave off the west coast of Africa around July 23-24, tested even the most skilled forecasters. By Tuesday, when it inundated the region with destructive winds, blinding rainfall, flooding and even tornadoes, Isaias had been a named storm for six days. It had already soaked the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, grazed Florida’s east coast, and made landfall in North Carolina. While Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached the area, it showed no mercy, becoming the most potent and deadly tropical system to hit the Lehigh Valley since Sandy. Even propelled by an unusually strong jet stream for early August, Isaias’ rainfall was impressive.
The Little Lehigh Creek topped its previous record crest from Hurricane Agnes in 1972, and Jordan Creek was experiencing record flooding Wednesday morning. Here are Isaias rainfall reports from the National Weather Service:
Lehigh County
Center Valley: 7.25 inches Upper Macungie Township: 6.06 inches
Macungie: 5.43 inches Coopersburg: 5.12 inches Trexler: 5.02 inches
New Tripoli: 4.94 inches Lehigh Valley International Airport: 4.92 inches
Slatington: 4.35 inches Whitehall Township: 3.89 inches
Coopersburg: 3.77 inches Breinigsville: 3.55 inches Northeast Lynn Township: 3.51 inches
Weisenberg Township: 3.48 inches
Germansville: 3.06 inches
Northampton County Nazareth: 6.54 inches Bethlehem: 4.95 inches Northampton: 4.94 inches Walnutport: 4.76 inches Martins Creek: 4.63 inches Palmer Township: 3.85 inches
Easton: 3.77 inches
Southeast East Bangor: 3.21 inches
Bucks County
Sellersville: 7.43 inches Quakertown (location 1): 5.94 inches
Quakertown (location 2):
4.30 inches
Monroe County
Saylorsburg: 6.95 inches Smithfield Township: 6.63 inches
Pocono Summit: 6.18 inches Snydersville: 5.49 inches
East Stroudsburg: 5.27 inches Skytop: 4.91 inches
Mount Pocono: 4.38 inches
Carbon County
Bowmanstown: 3 WSW 4.56 inches
Jim Thorpe: 3.74 inches Lehighton: 3.55 inches Southwest Blakeslee: 3.54 inches
To access additional reports, go to https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&product=PNS&issuedby=PHI
Morning Call reporter Stephanie Sigafoos can be reached at 610-820-6612.