LVwxHistorian

It would be alot like Pocono Weather by Ben Gelber which is actually the inspiration for it -- very detailed, if you've seen it 

KU = Kutztown Univ.??

Just trying to gauge the interest in a Lehigh Valley Wx History Book -- about $15? 

Any takers?

7 hours ago, WarrenCtyWx said:

I just checked xmacis2. The Quakertown coop reported 80/43 on March 28 and 43/21 on the 29th. Belvidere, NJ reported 84/38 on the 28th and 44/22 on the 29th. Definitely an interesting temperature drop.

Biggest drop i saw was at Lancaster: 88 to 21

38 minutes ago, JTA66 said:

I'll always remember the camel on 309 during the height of the storm--as if traffic wasn't snarled enough.

What?!  it escaped from the game preserve?

March 28 to 29, 1921 appears to be the greatest temperature drop ever, within 18 hours Bethlehem dropped from 84 to 21, ending an early growing season

At Freeland, near Hazelton, it fell from 70 to 40 in 10 minutes!!

At Allentown 8.1 inches fell, heaviest so early in the season and technically the biggest November storm, beating 8 inches that fell on Nov. 24, 1938. 

But 2 days after the 1938 storm, another 7 inches fell with 27/3 on the 26th -- Quakertown dropped to -6*!  

I'm having a vivid memory of a storm that fizzled out big time after a forecast of (I think) 6 to 10 inches during my first year of high school in the Lehigh Valley.  I still remember angrily looking out at the rain/snow from my first period Math class. 

   Maybe March 1991, anyone remember this?? 

On 4/23/2021 at 9:05 AM, Stormfly said:

We had some big wind events that year / month as well.

yes there were 60 mph winds a few days before in the LV and even a small tornado briefly touched down in Allentown on April 3rd!!

nws.noaa.gov

23 hours ago, Voyager said:

I was 14 years old at the time, living in Bethlehem, and still loved snow, so it was an awesome event for sure. I remember the cold (single digit lows?) that followed, but I don't remember the wind. Wasn't that opening day of baseball season and all the east coast games were postponed?

The high/low at Allentown was 31/16 on the 7th.  Single digits in the Poconos, 8 at Tobyhanna.   You're right about baseball, David Ludlum mentions it in his book Weather Factor.

On 4/7/2021 at 12:32 PM, Itstrainingtime said:

Got nearly 9" down this way in Lancaster county. Considering the time of year, the drifting and temps were epic. Not sure that I'd ever see snow blow and drift from an April snowstorm, but it was a scene reminiscent of a storm in January. As you mentioned, my high on the 7th was 28 degrees...remarkable. More than a 30 degree departure below normal. 

Didn't realize the heavy snow extended so far inland

Lehigh Valley got nearly a foot (11.4") with 4 foot drifts and winds gusting to 47 mph.  Another 2" fell 2 days later with a subfreezing day on the 7th!!

Share memories if you got em

The 2 storms are very distinct in my mind because I was a teenager, but as a child I can see how they could be conflated.

And Harrisburg had a March storm record 20.4" in 1993 

On another note: why so few replies??  

This is one of my favorite storms -- we've had bigger in the Lehigh Valley but this one wasn't just about one location.  With easily the highest NESIS rating of any storm on record, everyone from the deep south to Maine cashed in on this one.  Let's reminisce!!!

Regional Snowfall Index (RSI) | Snow and Ice | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov)

Well I stand corrected regarding the state climatologist but that doesn't mean that the values have been investigated by them, just regurgitated!

As for April 1894, you are correct about 18" at Harrisburg and there were even heavier totals, 25 to 26", from Lebanon to Hamburg.  But its hard to ignore the sub 10" amounts at kennett square and west chester.  And Phoenixville only had 12"

I'm going to look at newspapers from then and see what they say  

[15200493 - Monthly Weather Review] PRECIPITATION.pdf

16 hours ago, weatherwiz said:

Does anyone know why tornadohistoryproject.com is no longer valid. I'm guessing maybe funding? 

It was an amazing website...incredibly user friendly. Is there anything similar out there to easily access yearly tornado data and break down by month, day, year, state, rating? 

Such a shame that website is just....gone

you mean this Home (tornadoproject.com)

His totals are just too consistently higher than nearby stations:

feb 12-14, 1899: 53" -- kennett square: 32" and west chester: 21.5".

Or Jan 25, 1905 storm he measured 29" and Kennett Square had 18", and west chester 14.5".

And April 10-12, 1894: he measured 29.2" -- Kennett square had 8.8" and west chester 7.8"!!!!

Come on, something is very fishy!!  it has nothing to do with feelings.

I know you want to believe it because you live there, which are your feelings, but the data just doesn't back it up at all.

And the state climatologist has never recognized the data.

IPS - Record of Climatological Observations - Select Station | IPS | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) (noaa.gov)

It's still too high, NCDC said they will review it in the summer

Sorry, but I absolutely don't believe Coatesville and also their totals for Jan 1905, 29", and April 1894, 29.2".  They are completely at odds with every nearby station.  And the precip. ratios are exactly 10:1 which is very suspicious.  Probably measuring drifts.      I'm contacting NCDC  

On 2/22/2021 at 11:45 AM, Hurricane Agnes said:

31.29" with today's snow.

You're too serious, measuring it to the hundredth of an inch!!!!  

2 hours ago, ChescoWx said:

62.8" in the philly burbs of Chester County our 2nd greatest February snow total behind only 1899 with 69.8"

Have you looked into the accuracy of Feb 1899?   Since the next highest in the county was 46" at Kennett Square. 

27 minutes ago, JTA66 said:

Yes.

And believe me, I'm not downplaying this storm at all. But it was just a notch below a few others.

Well Feb 2003 storm brought slightly more snow, 20 to 25" in the lehigh valley, but slightly lower winds, so I guess it's a push for us

2 hours ago, CoolHandMike said:

That was my first winter back in PA after leaving for the service in '95. I brought back my wife, who was born and raised in SoCal. I recall telling her something along the lines of: "No worries babe, it doesn't snow all that much, maybe once every few years we get something meaningful, but usually winters are completely manageable." So that was her first taste of PA winter weather, ha!

Also worthy of note, after we moved back in May '09, her car was nearly totaled by hail, she caught poison ivy so bad that both of her arms were in bandages for weeks, she fell on the ice and nearly broke her butt in December, and then we got those back-to-back snowstorms in January and February. It felt almost as if PA was actively trying to maim/kill her.

She's since grown to love the climate here though. Turned into a total weenie.

when was that hail, may 2010??

1 hour ago, JTA66 said:

A few memories about this storm...

Coming off the weekend storm, I remember Ralph saying he "wasn't feeling" this one. Guess Ralph was using reverse psychology way back when.

That morning, someone in the Philly forum (it was probably still  Eastern and I don't recall who) said their wife was pulled over by the police and told to go home, because she wouldn't be able to get home by the afternoon.

Also that morning, someone in the MA forum posted in ours saying if what they were currently getting was headed our way, hang on!

The storm itself may not have been on par with '96, PDII or some other all timers, but in my opinion, that was the greatest week of winter weather I've experienced.

PDII?  president's day 2003?

Just saw this in Storm Data and wondering if anyone got caught in it, feb. 10, 2010:

“About 200 motorists and 180 tractor-trailers were stranded for up to 12 hours on a five mile stretch of Interstate 78 as large drifts occurred."