Eclipse, earthquake, northern lights: Looking back at out of this world 2024 Philadelphia moments

PHILADELPHIA - From an earthquake, to an eclipse and a drought, 2024 brought a wide variety of experiences the Philly region does not typically see. 

You may not remember, but last winter was pretty wet. In fact, it was the wettest part of 2024. 

JANUARY

January was the 4th wettest on record in Philadelphia, with just under 6 inches of rain. The first measurable snowfall of the season was also in January, and we also got our snowiest day of the season in that month.

4.6" fell in Philadelphia on January 19th. Take a look at all the people sledding down the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on that day.

January was also our snowiest month. We had four days with measurable snow.

We also had freezing rain that month which brought a glaze of ice to cars in Philadelphia.

FEBRUARY 

There were only two days with measurable snow in February.

February 17th was the latest snowfall in 2024 with 2.6 inches in Philadelphia.

Overall, February was a mild month. It was Philadelphia’s 15th warmest February.

MARCH

March 2024 was the ninth-warmest March on record for Philadelphia. The wettest day in the city occurred on March 23rd. Philadelphia received over three inches that day.

In total, we saw seven inches, making March the second-wettest on record. 

APRIL

In early April, the FOX 29 newsroom felt the earthquake. It happened during the Good Day After Show, and FOX 29 immediately went into breaking news coverage for hours.

The 4.8 earthquake was felt from New England to Virginia, and it was caused by a crack in the rocks in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, leftover from when the Appalachian Mountains formed.

We're still getting aftershocks from the April earthquake, but they're super weak. Weak enough that most are not felt right above where they happen.

A few days after the earthquake, we got to see an eclipse.

About 90 percent of our sun disappeared, and it looked darker than usual in Philadelphia during that time.

We covered the eclipse all day on FOX 29, including leading up to the eclipse and as it happened.

At the end of the month, we had our first day in the 90s. This helped make April Philadelphia’s 18th warmest April on record.

MAY

Despite having only one day in the 90s, May ended up the 18th warmest. Overall, May was a quiet month in weather.

The clear skies helped people in the Lehigh Valley see the Northern Lights. It was the first of a handful of times that the northern lights appeared in our region.

We see the northern lights because of the sun. The sun is always sending out charged energy into space. Some of this energy sneaks into the Earth around the North and South Pole on a daily basis, causing the northern lights and the southern lights.

When a bigger than usual blast of that charged energy leaves the sun, it leads to the northern lights reaching farther south than usual, like on May 10th.

Kathy Orr has a closer look into the science of northern lights. 

JUNE

The first of many hot days of the year happened in June when we hit 98 degrees two days that month. And, with nine days in the 90s, June 2024 ended up as Philadelphia’s 4th warmest June ever.

June was also when we had our first tornado of the year.

A landspout tornado popped up in Mercer County and flipped cars in a post office parking lot. This tornado had 80 mph wind gusts and came in at an EF-0.

It was one of only two tornadoes in 2024 across southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware.

That’s a stark contrast from the last few years. Earlier this decade, there had been a drastic rise in the number of tornadoes in the Delaware Valley. Just last year, we had a dozen tornadoes.

Down the shore, places like Ocean City had water that looked like what you would see in the Caribbean in late June. Dry weather, windy weather, and a phytoplankton helped to make that happen. 

JULY

July was hot again. We had 14 days in the 90s, including another high at 98. This led to the 12th warmest July on record in Philadelphia.

AUGUST

We had seven more days in the 90s in August, bringing 2024’s total to 32 days. That’s pretty close to average for Philly, in which 30 days is average.

While August was the last month we had highs in the 90s, it was also the last time we ran above average for rainfall.

There was even flash flooding in parts of southeast Pennsylvania that month, including Chester County.

That same storm also led to an EF-1 tornado just across the Pennsylvania state line, in New Castle County. Here is a look at the damage caused by wind gusts that peaked at 95 mph.

Looking at all of Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, De. and N.J. each had one tornado in 2024. Pennsylvania had 31, with most of the tornadoes occurring in western Pa., around the Pittsburgh area. There were no Pa. tornadoes in the Delaware Valley in the month of August.

SEPTEMBER

It's average to have two days in the 90s each September, but this year we had none.

September was also dry, the eighth driest in Philadelphia, to be exact. 

OCTOBER 

We had the driest October on record in Philadelphia in 2024 and these dry conditions lead to wildfires, particularly on windy days.

Here's the latest look at the drought conditions.

October was also warm, coming in as the 11th warmest October on record in Philly.

Also in October, a lot of people in the Delaware Valley saw the northern lights on October 10th, including people in Philadelphia. Here's a look at them over Independence Mall in Old City.

And, along with the northern lights, also out of this world in 2024 was that comet. Folks across the Delaware Valley spotted the comet, and its dust tail, in October and sent pictures to FOX 29.   

NOVEMBER

November started off warm. We had highs in the 80s in November. That’s pretty rare. There have been only seven other Novembers in Philadelphia that had highs in the 80s.

Wildfires and dry weather continued through the start of November. There was a big fire on Neversink Mountain in the skyline of Reading and more fires across New Jersey, including Evesham Township in Burlington County.

Then, finally, on November 10th, Philadelphia received more than just sprinkles, when 0.16" of rain fell, ending Philadelphia’s longest stretch without measurable rain. The dry stretch started on September 29 and lasted 42 days.

Later in the month, spots in southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware and South Jersey got their first snowflakes of the season. But, it was wet snow, so it didn’t stick to the ground in most spots. A few Philly suburbs got a small coating, but parts of the Poconos got inches of snow.

Despite the cold finish, we ended up with the 5th warmest November on record. 

DECEMBER 

2024 will go down as the warmest year on record in Philadelphia.

Looking at the records dating back to the 1800s, the six warmest years in Philadelphia have all happened in the last 12 years: 2024, 2012, 2023, 2016, 2021, and 2022.

WINTER 2024-25 

When your FOX 29 Weather Authority put together this year's winter weather forecast, they heavily weighed the historically warm and dry start to fall. They looked back at all the winters that also had a dry fall and a warm fall, and the data showed a clear trend: below average snowfall in the winters that followed. 

There's more to winter forecasting than weather trends. Learn what else is affecting this year's winter weather forecast: watch their forecast.

2025 

We'll still have opportunities to see the Northern Lights in 2025.   

That’s because the sun is still peaking in its active phase. This is the period of a few years when the sun is sending out more of these big blasts of energy more often. 

In a few years, the sun will be in its quiet phase, and we'll have few to no chances to see the Northern Lights over the Delaware Valley. 

So, keep looking up in 2025.

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