LPWB Skycam Livestream, Looking NW-N-NE

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Note: LPWB operates on Eastern Standard Time (EST) year round.

Today (Monday): 0.00" 

Yesterday: 0.04"

Month to Date: 0.51" (Whole month normal 4.15")

April: 2.90"

Year to Date: 12.01" (Whole year normal 52.79")

* As measured with manual double-cylinder gauge

Month to Date: 0.0" (Whole month normal 0.0")

April: Trace (Hail)

Season to Date: 24.3" (Whole season normal 28.3")

Depth Snow/Ice: 0"

Download full-year lists

Record Type     10 May    11 May    12 May 

Norm Temps#    72/450    72/50       72/50

Hi Max Temp   91/1987   91/1987   89/2023+

Hi Min Temp    64/2015+  68/2015  64/2004+

Lo Max Temp  53/1989   53/1989   51/2008

Lo Min Temp   35/2020   36/2010   36/1990

Most Pcpn   1.56/1990  1.16/1996  1.37/2019

Most Snow       0.0           0.0           0.0

Last Year    76/47/0.00 81/47/0.00 84/48/0.00

*  Temperatures not till June 1984

# 1991-2020 LPWB 30-yr smoothed averages

+ Most recent of more than one  

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After January and February, during which temperatures above 50 were scarce, highest 62 on 28 February, March brought the first 70 or above temperature since 77 on 19 October with 74 on 8 March, which was followed quickly with 83 on 10 March.   That was followed by four more 80s before March ended, highest 84 on the 31st. Ten days warmed to at least 70 this March. Some of these were new record highs for the respective dates of occurrence, even officially for Reading PA (RDG) for which continuous temperature records extend back to 1898. There was little offsetting wintry cold, lowest 21 on the 18th. March's final average temperature of 47.5 was 5.5 above the 1991-2020 30-year average, good for 4th warmest of 42 at LPWB. Warmth dominated during April also, with ten days that warmed to at least 80, including six consecutive days from 13th to 18th inclusive. Of those, the 15th and 16th heated to 90 and 92 respectively (90 and 91 at RDG), both of which became new record highs for the dates. Although 90 temperatures came early this year, the final 90 of 2025 came early with 94 on 17 August.  While warmth dominated April, some anomalous chill also occurred. An unusually late hard freeze of 27 degrees occurred early morning of the 21st. The minority chill dragged down the final average to 57.0 (+3.9), well short of the warmest 58.4 of April 2017, but still a 2-way tie for third warmest April of 42 at LPWB. Only a trace of snow/sleet fell these two months.

A nor-easter cyclone began to develop near the Middle-Atlantic coast during Sunday 22 February 2026 then became very intense during the 23rd. At LPWB light rain began Sunday morning then changed to snow late afternoon. Light snow fell Sunday evening and accumulated 2.6" by midnight. Much more snow seemed likely well into Monday. However, the intensifying cyclone organized a shield of very heavy snow closer to its center as it drew dry air from the west into Berks County. As a result, snow tapered to flurries at midnight, and only 0.2" more snow accumulated at LPWB, which officially represents the Reading area, for a storm total of only 2.8" of snow after initial rain. Total rain equivalent was 0.53". Meanwhile, snow became very heavy toward the Delaware Valley and eastward to the shores of New Jersey well before dawn Monday and continued well into the day Monday. When snow ended, 1 to 2 feet had accumulated over these areas with blizzard conditions at times. Philadelphia (PHL) received 14". Some places topped 2 feet, especially to the northeast where Providence RI (PVD) was tops at 37.9". Foot amounts were as near as 30 miles east of LPWB.

A storm of copious snow, then sleet brought southeastern PA, including LPWB, to a standstill during Sunday 25 January 2025 with snow/sleet accumulations of 8 to 14 inches. The snow-to-sleet boundary reached the Reading area relatively quickly, after a thump of 8.4" of powder in eight hours, then struggled to move farther north resulting in greater accumulations north of Reading. It deposited 9.4" of snow/sleet, which melted to 1.78" of rain equivalent, upon LPWB and became the harshest winter storm since 31 Jan into 2 Feb 2021 at LPWB. That one delivered 18.6" of snow/sleet which melted to 2.31".  Temperatures during the 25 Jan 2026 storm held between 11 and 16 degrees, even as mild and moist air lifted above that cold wedge. Temperatures 6000 to 9000 feet aloft climbed into the 40s. That melting layer produced rain at those heights which then froze into ice pellets (sleet) as it fell into the cold wedge in the lowest mile of air. Accumulation would have reached 18" had it been only snow. The only storm accumulation of at least 6" since 2021 had been 6.1" on 19 Jan 2025.

Year 2025 at LPWB averaged warm at 55.2 degrees, above the average annual temperature of 54.7.  But it was not nearly as warm as 2024 which averaged 57.0, warmest year on record.  Cold averages of 28.3 (-3.5) of January and 32.1 (-4.1) of December contributed mostly to dragging down the 2025 average below the 2024 average. Of the ten months in between, only August was cooler than average. March, April, June, July, and September were at least 2.0 degrees above their respective norms. Extreme temperatures during 2025 ranged from -4 on 22 January to 100, 101, 100 on 23, 24, 25 June.

Hot weather dominated July 2025 at LPWB with a final average temperature of 80.2 degrees, which was bolstered by 20 days that heated to at least 90, hottest 98 on 25th, and 19 days that failed to cool below 70. Only July 2020 had more 90s at 21. July 2013 had 23 days, all consecutive, that did not cool below 70. That 80.2 final average trailed only 80.6 of July 1999 and 81.0 of July 2011. Then the pattern turned suddenly cool at the rollover into August, like turning two calendar pages rather than one. Much of August was more like September due mainly to 15 days that cooled below 60, including 47s on 30th, 31st which tied coolest in August since 47 on 25 August 1987. Summer sultriness did come back for seven days with highs of 90 to 94 from 11th through 17th, and that prevented a very anomalously cool August. The final average of 72.3 was only 2.3 degrees cooler than normal. Mainly fair weather accompanied the cool of August 2025 and allowed much more nocturnal cooling than usual. The seven-day heat wave provided 1.23" of the whole August total rainfall of 1.83 and also all four occurrences of thunder.

The temperature at LPWB soared to a phenomenal 87 on 29 March 2025. But that degree of warmth was not to be exceeded till 4 June with a high of 91. The first 90-degree temperature of a year normally occurs during the second half of May. However, late May and even the start of June was mainly cool. That 91 on the 4th was the first of 13 days of June 2025 that heated to at least 90.  Only June of 2024 had more with 14. This June's heat was keyed by three consecutive days that heated to at least 100; 100, 101, 100 on the 23rd, 24th, 25th respectively and became the first occurrence of three triple-digit days during any June at LPWB since temperatures records began in 1984. This June's heat was non-continuous as it was interrupted by a few rain-cooled days. The rainy trend of May (see previous article) continued this June which delivered 7.26" of total rainfall and nine days of thunder occurrences. Despite those several cool days, June 2025 averaged 74.5 degrees, which is 2.5 above average. 

May 2025 brought plenteous rains which totaled 9.19" at LPWB and were favorably distributed during the month, and keyed by 2.56" within 24 hours that spanned the 8th and 9th. This total was near the low end in Berks County in which the majority of locations accrued 10 to 11 inches to as much as nearly 12.5" and included exactly 10.00" officially for Reading PA (RDG).  As a result, drought conditions improved from very severe as May began to moderate by month end. The 9.19" total at LPWB placed third behind 10.39/2019 and 12.66/1989 during last 43 years. Additionally, this May trended cooler as it progressed, more typical of a 31-day period during mid-fall, and ended slightly warmer than average after a large temperature excess as of mid-month.

A snowstorm of 6.1" blanketed LPWB on Sunday 19 January 2025. While not a really huge snow accumulation, it was the first of at least 6 inches since an 18.6-inch blockbuster on 31 Jan into 2 Feb 2021. Snowfall in Berks County accumulated mainly in the 4- to 8-inch range. NWS has been considering LPWB's snow measurements as official for the Reading PA area. Said storm ushered in a week of severe cold throughout the region and was keyed by a low temperature of -4°F early on 22 January, which was first zero or below temperature since -7 on 31 January 2019. Reading's (RDG) low of -7 was coldest since the area's all-time severest arctic invasion of 16-22 January 1994. All other daily lows during 20-25 January 2025 were single-digit above zero, and for only a few hours during those same six days did the temperature rise above 32 and only slightly so. As a result, snowpack was preserved with nearly all the decrease in depth to 3 inches due to settling. Then significantly moderating temperatures during the following several days eliminated nearly the entire pack.

The coldest temperatures in two years invaded the region which includes LPWB beginning on the winter solstice, 21 December 2024. At LPWB, the temperature fell below freezing shortly after 12:00 AM of early Saturday 21 December and did not climb above till midday of Tuesday the 24th. In the midst of those 80-some hours of sub-freezing, the minimum of 8 degrees came early morning of the 23rd. The official Reading PA (RDG) minimum also was 8. This beat the coldest of last winter which was 9 on 17 January 2024. A slightly colder blast occurred almost exactly two years earlier from 23 to 25 December 2022 which included a lowest of 5 above early on the 24th. The maximum of 16 that same day tied the lowest date maximum for December at LPWB since 1984. Patchy thin snow cover accompanied this latest cold blast. A rebound to 60-some degrees followed both arctic blasts within a week and included a high of 65 degrees on Sunday 29 December 2024.

Barometer readings throughout southeastern Pennsylvania soared to near record high sea-level pressures (SLP) on 14 December 2024 as a burly high-pressure system (anticyclone) built southward from eastern Canada. At LPWB, the SLP peaked at 30.97 in*Hg (1048.7 hPa) at 9:35 AM. This marked the highest SLP during the 42 years of record at LPWB. Meanwhile, SLP peaked at 30.98 in*Hg at Reading Regional Airport (RDG). Temperatures during 14 December climbed from 15 to 37 degrees at LPWB, which were much colder than normal but not quite severely cold. The record highest SLPs throughout eastern Pennsylvania occurred on 13 February 1981 and peaked at or very near to 31.08 in*Hg (1052.5 hPa).  Before this occurrence, the official highest SLP recorded by the Reading PA U.S. Weather Bureau Office was 31.00 in*Hg (1049.8 hPa) on 25 December 1949. Only moderately cold temperatures accompanied these two previous occurrences of very high SLPs. Reference this NWS product to learn of United States & Canada SLP Extremes by Month.