I love talking about this snowstorm more than any other and is my favorite followed by 96 then 93. I remember Elliott Abrams excitedly talking about it on KYW for a couple of days before it hit the area.
I had just turned 18 a week earlier and had been a senior in high school and this storm was going to be a big snow according to most forecasts for our Lancaster Co (and Philly area). The snow started falling just before sunrise that Friday morning and had been falling steadily and moderately for several hours. My father and I went out to take care clearing our driveway in the afternoon with our garden tractor that had a plow attached. I had plowed our entire driveway which would take probably about 45 minutes with powdery snow being involved. Not sure how many inches there were on the ground at that point but when I had finished, another 2” had fallen where I had started in those 45 or so minutes. I do remember hearing about thunder snow but I hadn’t heard any personally in this storm.
Went to bed that evening with heavy snow falling and at around 3 or 4 am I had woke up and looked outside with the front porch light on. I was blown away with the most heaviest falling snow I had even seen and have never witnessed since. Giant pancake flakes mixed with every other size flakes imaginable. Rates must have been a couple of inches and hour easily. By that point in the morning, 2 feet had probably fallen. Went back to bed and I believe the snow came to an end around 6 or 7 in the morning.
I remember putting a yardstick in the ground but not remembering what the exact measurement had been but I’m 100% sure it was at least 30” when all was said and done. I had a 3 year old sister at the time and the next day I thought it would be cool to drop her feet first into this deep snow. I did just that and she went all the way up to her chin in snow. Needless to say she did not appreciate this snow dunk and started crying her eyes out.
One more memory was driving past the PA turnpike and 222 exits the day after the storm and seeing tractor trailer trucks completely littered all over the highway exits. Tractor trailers had bailed off the highways when plows could not keep up. Snowplows had to weave there way around these trucks like a maze and looked it looked almost apocalyptic as they were plowed into place where they had abandoned them. Also remember getting a rainstorm several days later and some roofs had collapsed under heavy snow and then rain.
It would be great but I never have and never expect to see snow falling at those intense rates ever again. Simply put it was a weenie storm for the ages as far as snowfall rates go.