Central PA - March 2013

[sauss06]

Regarding March 1993...It seems I am the elder statesman beating out Sauss by 3 years.  I was 33 at the time. 

Thanks for reading my story.  It was fun reminiscing about it again, and it's really hard to believe it's been 20 years since that fateful Saturday in mid March.

Great story old man  

[pawatch]

Damn, some of you are making me feel old. I was 30 during the super storm. As Jamie said, some people didn't want to listen. My wife and i use to go to a local pub every Friday for happy hour with our friends. We had decided we were not staying long because i wanted to stop at the store and get important stuff like beer, peanuts and potatoe chips. My friends too were leaving to stock up. Others at the pub were laughing, telling us we were crazy, you know the song and dance! the next time we saw them, the following Friday evening everyone was talking about he storm and how the weather people didn't give people enough warning etc. lolz..

 

The wind driven snow was a real b**ch. My FD handled 146 calls in less then 36 hours. After i did a shift i went home and couldn't get back to the station until Sunday night, there was no getting out my road. the guys who were on station, remained there with no sleep for over 24 hours, without help. When i got back Sunday night, i think i stayed for 2 straight days. I can't tell you how long it took just to shovel out hydrants. Many lost power in our area, in addition to building's, sheds, roofs etc collapsed.

One of the biggest things that stands out was the drifts, crazy ass drifts. at one point my wife went to let our Chocolate lab out, she said Jon we have a problem, i went to the back door and the snow was above the window of the door.

 

Edit to add- i'm not sure i ever shoveled so much in my life. Not only did i have an almost 100' driveway to shovel at my house, all the roofs i shoveled with the FD. once i got back to work, i think we shoveled there for 2 or 3 days straight.

I was 37 at the time of the storm. And worked as a career fireman. Hours before the storm we put the chains on all the fire trucks. There was no such thing as on-spot chains at that time. So it was all manual labor. I was running on the ambulance that night and had a highway truck with a plow running calls with us. We had about 1/2 dozen calls. Thought it was pretty awesome going on the calls with it snowing as hard as it was.

I was suppose to get off work @ 8:00 that morning but got held over another 24 hours. And during that time I shoveled a lot of hydrants out. A few of them was a real challenge to find, because they was buried with snow.

Definitely a storm I remember well. Not sure what the total ended up being.

I enjoyed reading all the storm stories from everyone!!

 

I don't golf, kayaking is my hobby and I am ready to get out as soon as it warms up a little.

[pawatch]

3 minutes with a heavy burst of flurries. Now a few stray flurries.

[sauss06]

at home, approx a mile, my daughter called and said it was like a blizzard for a couple minutes, not a flake here.

[north pgh]

My memories, posted before: 

 

My memories:

- Lots of people were laughing at this. I remember telling people three days ahead about it and just flat out being laughed at. They weren't laughing Saturday eve.

- I went for a walk at around 3:30 pm to go up to Mt. Washington's overlook in Pittsburgh. I was up there at around 10 and couldn't see the city. My walk this time was a lot harsher, and I was in peak physical condition at the time - no matter, this thing was draining my strength. The snow was whipping, among the hardest I have ever seen snow fall, and the winds were at least 30-40. Very, very cold, too. 

I lived on Grace St. in Mt. Washington, that ended at a fairly main street there that ran parallel to Grandview Ave (the main drag for views up there) and I was about to turn around when I heard a guy yelling "Hey Help Hey Help" over and over again to me. I could barely see him but he was like 100 feet away. I yelled back asking what was wrong and he said his neighbor was in labor and they needed help getting her to the hospital.

I made my way to him and discovered they lived up this one-block hill that lead up to Grandview - if you are familar, there are a lot of streets that do this up on Mt. Washington. When I got to the house, what a scene......they needed all the help they could get to try to turn this Bronco around so it could get down the street. This was a classic Pittsburgh street, narrow as hell. What a mess. They were told an ambulance couldn't get there in time. It was that out of control. 

We finally got the Bronco turned around and out into the street. At this point there was oh, about 15 inches or so on the street with drifts. I look up, and here comes the pregnant lady down their steps. She looked like a colorful wooly engorged tick being escorted by several slightly-less engorged wooly ticks. She was making these sheep-like noises from the pain, through her scarf-covered mouth. We helped her into the Bronco, and as she was being put in the wind was roaring. And off they went....they had to get down that freaking hill to Mercy Hospital. 

Later I found out they got there in time and baby was born. His name? Storm. No ****. 

- The Friday night before the storm, we decided to have a blizzard party and went to the state store. I have NEVER seen a liquor store with shelves that empty. We managed to buy some stuff, but it was crazy. Same at the beer distributer. 

- The blizzard party was awesome. We were doing snow angels in the middle of the street, drunk and high. Them's the days. 

- I remember on KDKA they put out a call in Westmoreland County for people with snowmobiles to go to different places to help look for shut-ins who needed help. 

Great storm. I measured 29 inches on Mt. Washington but it was impossible to measure.

I too was in Pittsburgh. 30 at the time and living in a townhouse in Holiday Park, Plum Borough (East of Pittsburgh). My wife and I were supposed to visit her parents in New York for the weekend and we elected not to go because of the first Blizzard Warning that I can remember. We woke up Saturday to snow and wind. We needed some groceries and couldn't get the car out and we walked several miles to rt 286 to get our groceries. Walking in the deep snow it seemed like it took hours. When we got home we were snowed in. We lost power for about 3 hours. I remember the thunder and lightning for several hours straight in the late afternoon. According to NWS Pit archives they had moderate snow for 9 hours and heavy snow with visibility at 1/16-3/8 of a mile for an additional 10 hours. The winds gusted from 23 to 40 mph the entire time. The airport received 24 inches and I am sure I had more but the drifts where so high you couldn't really measure. No camera or pictures either. In 1993 there was no internet either so all I had was The weather Channel when the power was on. I doubt we will ever see a storm like that here again but you never know. With the internet today and this forum I couldn't imagine what this storm would have done for all of us experiencing it with each other from one end of the state to another.

Check out the numbers below

 

HOURLY WEATHER FOR PITTSBURGH PA AIRPORT FOR 03/13/93   MAR 13 1993     TIME WEATHER   TEMP DEWPT RH WIND    PRESSURE           031393                    DEGREES F. %   MPH      INCHES12 AM EST FLURRIES  29   27   93  N7      30.08R  WCI 19 1 AM EST FLURRIES  28   27   96  N9      30.05F  WCI 15  MAX TEMP LAST 24 HRS 35  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS .01                             2 AM EST FLURRIES  26   21   81  N12     30.02F  WCI 9 3 AM EST LGT SNOW  24   21   88  N13     29.97F  WCI 4 4 AM EST LGT SNOW  23   21   92  N14     29.93F  WCI 1 5 AM EST SNOW      23   22   96  N14     29.89F  VSB 1   WCI 1 6 AM EST SNOW      22   22  100  N13     29.84F  VSB 1   WCI 1 7 AM EST SNOW      23   22   96  N15     29.80F  VSB 1   WCI 0 8 AM EST SNOW      23   23  100  N15     29.77F  VSB 1/2 WCI 0 9 AM EST HVY SNOW  24   24  100  NE16    29.69F  VSB 1/4 WCI 010 AM EST SNOW      24   24  100  N17     29.61F  VSB 1/2 WCI -111 AM EST HVY SNOW  24   24  100  N18     29.53F  VSB 1/4 WCI -212 PM EST HVY SNOW  23   23  100  N18G31  29.45F  VSB1/16 WCI -4 1 PM EST HVY SNOW  23   23  100  N17G25  29.39F  VSB1/16 WCI -3  MIN TEMP LAST 24 HRS 22  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS .10                             2 PM EST HVY SNOW  22   21   96  N23     29.28F  VSB1/16 WCI -10 3 PM EST HVY SNOW  21   21  100  N23     29.22F  VSB1/16 WCI -11 4 PM EST HVY SNOW  20   18   92  N28G40  29.20F  VSB1/16 WCI -16 5 PM EST HVY SNOW  18   17   96  N25G39  29.19F  VSB1/16 WCI -17 6 PM EST HVY SNOW  18   17   96  N25G37  29.19S  VSB1/16 WCI -17 7 PM EST HVY SNOW  18   16   92  N28G36  29.19S  VSB1/16 WCI -19  MAX TEMP LAST 24 HRS 35  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS .01                             8 PM EST SNOW      18   16   92  N21G38  29.19S  VSB 3/8 WCI -14 9 PM EST SNOW      18   16   92  N24G35  29.19S  VSB 3/8 WCI -1610 PM EST SNOW      17   15   92  NW32G41 29.20R  VSB 1   WCI -2311 PM EST SNOW      17   15   92  NW21G37 29.25R  VSB 1   WCI -15                                             03/13/93--------------------------------------------------HOURLY WEATHER FOR PITTSBURGH PA AIRPORT FOR 03/14/93   MAR 14 1993     TIME WEATHER   TEMP DEWPT RH WIND    PRESSURE           031493                    DEGREES F. %   MPH      INCHES12 AM EST LGT SNOW  16   13   88  NW25G39 29.29R  WCI -20 1 AM EST LGT SNOW  16   10   77  NW28G36 29.32R  WCI -22  MAX TEMP LAST 24 HRS 28  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS .13                             2 AM EST LGT SNOW  15   11   84  NW25G38 29.37R  WCI -22 3 AM EST LGT SNOW  15   11   84  NW28G37 29.37S  WCI -24 4 AM EST LGT SNOW  13    9   84  NW28G37 29.42R  WCI -27 5 AM EST LGT SNOW  13    6   73  NW25G35 29.50R  WCI -25 6 AM EST LGT SNOW  12    5   73  NW30    29.57R  WCI -29 7 AM EST LGT SNOW  11    6   80  W21     29.63R  WCI -24  MIN TEMP LAST 12 HRS 11  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS .03                             8 AM EST LGT SNOW  11    7   84  W20     29.68R  WCI -23 9 AM EST LGT SNOW  12    5   73  W21     29.73R  WCI -2310 AM EST LGT SNOW  11    6   80  W18G28  29.78R  WCI -2111 AM EST PTSUNNY   13    4   67  W23G30  29.82R  WCI -2312 PM EST PTSUNNY   14    4   64  W23G31  29.85R  WCI -21 1 PM EST PTSUNNY   15    3   58  W25G37  29.88R  WCI -22  MIN TEMP LAST 24 HRS 11  PRECIP LAST 6 HRS TRACE                           2 PM EST PTSUNNY   15    2   56  W20G30  29.91R  WCI -17 3 PM EST MOSUNNY   16    0   49  W26G35  29.95R  WCI -21 4 PM EST MOSUNNY   16   -3   42  W22     29.97R  WCI -18 5 PM EST CLEAR     15   -3   44  NW23G35 30.01R  WCI -20 6 PM EST CLEAR     14   -8   36  NW17    30.05R  WCI -15 7 PM EST PTCLDY    13   -8   38  NW17    30.09R  WCI -17  MAX TEMP LAST 12 HRS 17                                                    8 PM EST PTCLDY    11   -5   48  W15     30.12R  WCI -17 9 PM EST CLEAR      9   -5   52  W9      30.16R  WCI -710 PM EST MOCLDY     8   -4   57  W8      30.18R  WCI -611 PM EST MOCLDY     8   -2   63  SW7     30.21R  WCI -3                                             03/14/93----------------------------------------

[2001kx]

Another mini blizzard here

[CarlislePaWx]

Great story old man  

 

 

 

I was 37 at the time of the storm. And worked as a career fireman. Hours before the storm we put the chains on all the fire trucks. There was no such thing as on-spot chains at that time. So it was all manual labor. I was running on the ambulance that night and had a highway truck with a plow running calls with us. We had about 1/2 dozen calls. Thought it was pretty awesome going on the calls with it snowing as hard as it was.

I was suppose to get off work @ 8:00 that morning but got held over another 24 hours. And during that time I shoveled a lot of hydrants out. A few of them was a real challenge to find, because they was buried with snow.

Definitely a storm I remember well. Not sure what the total ended up being.

I enjoyed reading all the storm stories from everyone!!

 

I don't golf, kayaking is my hobby and I am ready to get out as soon as it warms up a little.

Yayyyy....I'm not the grandpappy of the sub after all!!  

[JamieOber]

north pgh - I remember the blizzard warning also. First for me as well. The other thing I remember is the knucklehead in charge of the St. Patrick's Day parade refused to cancel and was live on the air, with pretty heavy snow falling, berating schools that didn't come down to march in the parade. That was the last year he was in charge, I think.

 

The parade went on and the highlight was the crazy Civic Arena/Three Rivers vendor guy marching in shorts and no shirt. Not sure if you know who I mean, but he was a funny guy. 

[pawatch]

 

 

Yayyyy....I'm not the grandpappy of the sub after all!!  

Enjoyed reading your story!

The pressure is off of you now.

[north pgh]

north pgh - I remember the blizzard warning also. First for me as well. The other thing I remember is the knucklehead in charge of the St. Patrick's Day parade refused to cancel and was live on the air, with pretty heavy snow falling, berating schools that didn't come down to march in the parade. That was the last year he was in charge, I think.

 

The parade went on and the highlight was the crazy Civic Arena/Three Rivers vendor guy marching in shorts and no shirt. Not sure if you know who I mean, but he was a funny guy. 

I remember one of the newscasts with video of the parade and the few people that showed up marching but I can never find them anywhere. That vendor guy is still around. I see him at Pirate, Steeler and Penguins games. I can't remember his name.

Below is the clip I am sure some of you have seen via youtube of a Pittsburgh newscast of 1993.

Fast forward to 2:23 of the video and tell me everyone on here would not love to have that snow map again.

 

[dcfox1]

Jeez I thought I was one of the older ones. I posted before I was in the police acadamy at HACC and they always said they do not cancel ever even if the campus does. So all of us showed up Monday with the travel ban in place only to find drifts up to the locked gate at the entrance to the training center. They never posted the closure to tv stations. Man were we pissed and got an apology from the head of the academy later. We had one guy that came from chambersburg.

[JamieOber]

New Euro sez maybe try using two batting gloves on each hand if you are taking BP over the next 10 days. Sheesh is it cold. Pretty much the same on the storm(s) early next week, I think. 

[skiier04]

Good consistency there... 

[pawatch]

Saw on the news that Syracuse got 42" of snow from that storm. Wow!!

[Atomixwx]

Man, it must suck to be old...

[NortheastPAWx]

Another snow squall, just in time for me to be going out.

[jm1220]

Saw on the news that Syracuse got 42" of snow from that storm. Wow!!

Lake effect likely combined with the snow from the synoptic storm and added to the totals across that region. But the heaviest snow from this tended to be right along the Allegheny/Laurels and NE from there. I think there were some 36"+ totals in Somerset/Cambria counties.

[JamieOber]

Not looking too shabby on radar, hell that might get us up an inch or so on the ground if we get it. Have about a half inch on the ground, 25.4:

 

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA1045 PM EDT WED MAR 13 2013PAZ018-019-045-140315-NORTHERN CENTRE PA-SOUTHERN CENTRE PA-SOUTHERN CLINTON PA-1045 PM EDT WED MAR 13 2013...A DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL WILL AFFECT NORTHERN CENTRE ANDSOUTHEASTERN CLINTON COUNTIES...AT 1036 PM EDT...A DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL WAS LOCATED FROM BEECHCREEK AND LAMAR TO KARTHAUS...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.THIS INITIAL POSITION IS AROUND MILE MARKERS 170 TO 175 ON I-80.WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL.THE SNOW WILL RAPIDLY DROP VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO. THIS DANGEROUSSNOW SQUALL WILL AFFECT MACKEYVILLE...LOGANTON...BELLEFONTE...SNOWSHOE AND MILESBURG.THIS WILL IMPACT THE FOLLOWING CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIAINTERSTATES...I-80 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 139 AND 194...AND I-99BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 84 AND 85.THIS WILL ALSO IMPACT THE FOLLOWING MAJOR ROADS...ROUTE 220 FROM NEARBELLEFONTE ON I-80 TO MILL HALL...ALT ROUTE 220 FROM MILESBURG TONEAR BELLEFONTE ON I-80...STATE ROAD 26...STATE ROAD 45.USE EXTRA CAUTION IF YOU MUST TRAVEL INTO OR THROUGH THIS DANGEROUSSNOW SQUALL. CONSIDER DELAYING TRAVEL UNTIL THE SQUALL PASSES YOURLOCATION.LAT...LON 4114 7777 4111 7774 4109 7763 4112 7755      4110 7736 4105 7714 4088 7733 4094 7805      4098 7809 4101 7806 4103 7808 4104 7806      4107 7810 4111 7811 4116 7800$FORECASTER: DANGELO

[skiier04]

Dare I ask if the Euro kept the storm?

[JamieOber]

Dare I ask if the Euro kept the storm?

Here's the Sat clipper for us:

 

 

SAT 00Z 16-MAR   1.8    -3.8    1010      82      97    0.01     544     536    SAT 06Z 16-MAR  -0.1    -4.6    1010      91      96    0.05     544     537    SAT 12Z 16-MAR  -0.8    -4.0    1009      87      99    0.04     545     538    SAT 18Z 16-MAR  -0.3    -3.5    1009      85      83    0.17     544     537    SUN 00Z 17-MAR  -0.9    -5.9    1012      87      37    0.02     545     535   

 

Here's the overrunning/storm for us:

 

 

MON 12Z 18-MAR  -3.0    -4.0    1025      66      85    0.01     557     538    MON 18Z 18-MAR  -1.4    -5.4    1022      74     100    0.11     559     542    TUE 00Z 19-MAR  -0.5    -2.3    1016      95     100    0.23     558     545    TUE 06Z 19-MAR   0.8     2.3    1007      96      99    0.26     554     548    TUE 12Z 19-MAR   2.2    -1.8    1002      96      83    0.17     544     542    TUE 18Z 19-MAR   2.8    -6.8    1001      65      92    0.01     528     527    WED 00Z 20-MAR  -2.5    -9.4    1005      72      97    0.02     524     520    WED 06Z 20-MAR  -6.1   -12.6    1006      76      41    0.01     520     515  

 

IPT

 

 

FRI 18Z 15-MAR   3.1    -6.9    1009      54      98    0.01     539     532    SAT 00Z 16-MAR   1.1    -5.5    1009      78      94    0.01     541     534    SAT 06Z 16-MAR  -0.8    -6.5    1010      80      97    0.01     542     535    SAT 12Z 16-MAR  -1.9    -6.4    1010      72      96    0.01     543     535    SAT 18Z 16-MAR  -1.0    -6.4    1010      70      95    0.13     542     534    SUN 00Z 17-MAR  -1.5    -7.6    1012      78      64    0.02     542     532    SUN 06Z 17-MAR  -4.5    -7.2    1016      78       4    0.00     546     533

 

MON 18Z 18-MAR  -1.6    -6.6    1024      61     100    0.07     558     539    TUE 00Z 19-MAR  -1.9    -4.0    1019      91      99    0.22     558     543    TUE 06Z 19-MAR  -0.1     1.4    1009      96      99    0.28     554     547    TUE 12Z 19-MAR   1.5     2.1    1002      97     100    0.30     546     545    TUE 18Z 19-MAR   4.2    -5.0     999      60      62    0.09     531     532    

 

MDT

 

 

SAT 06Z 16-MAR   1.9    -2.8    1009      87      97    0.00     546     538    SAT 12Z 16-MAR   1.4    -2.8    1009      88      96    0.02     547     539    SAT 18Z 16-MAR   1.7    -2.0    1009      89      79    0.13     546     540    SUN 00Z 17-MAR   1.2    -3.0    1011      89      44    0.03     547     538 

 

 

MON 18Z 18-MAR   2.2    -3.8    1023      65      98    0.02     560     542    TUE 00Z 19-MAR   0.8    -0.6    1018      97     100    0.26     560     546    TUE 06Z 19-MAR   3.1     5.0    1009      98     100    0.42     557     550    TUE 12Z 19-MAR   4.5     4.4    1001      99      98    0.43     549     549    TUE 18Z 19-MAR   6.4    -5.0    1000      56      57    0.16     532     532    WED 00Z 20-MAR   1.7    -7.9    1003      58      95    0.01     525     522  

 

First number is 10m temp, second is 850 temp, then you can probably figure out what is qpf

[JamieOber]

Have no seen it personally, but new york forum says clipper is non existant....overrunning event disappeared and last event only gives Northern New England snow.

See post above. 

[Wmsptwx]

Thanks Jamie...its def still there looks like snow to rain for overrunning.

[JamieOber]

Thanks Jamie...its def still there looks like snow to rain for overrunning.

Yeah, even a little ice for you. 

[Wmsptwx]

Gfs is torchy at 850s def one will give in again.

[djr5001]

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~fxg1/NARR/1993/us0313j5.php

 

Im late to the relive-93-party but always fun to watch this in the archives on psu ewall

 

I know my parents have pictures somewhere of my brother and I standing on sidewalk leading up to front door of the house after my dad had dug out a path... I was 7 at the time and my brother had just turned 4... the snow was well above the top of his head lol... I dont remember much other than being mad I wasn't allowed to go out and play in it... glad my parents knew better than let me out with the low wind chill and snow that was more than waist deep for me lol... it was a combination of Hurricane Andrew coverage and then this storm that really sparked my interest in the weather

[Jmister]

12z GGEM is a serious snow event for most of the region...

 

http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/cmdn/pcpn_type/pcpn_type_gem_reg.html

 

Specifically between 84 and 100 hours.

[djr5001]

12z GGEM is a serious snow event for most of the region...

 

http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/cmdn/pcpn_type/pcpn_type_gem_reg.html

 

Specifically between 84 and 100 hours.

will need that high to the northeast to establish itself a little sooner or too much warm air advection will eliminate that snow south of I-80

[Eskimo Joe]

Some serious stuff going on in Columbia, PA today.  Don't drink the water!!

 

 

 

DRINKING WATER WARNING

Columbia Water Company ISSUES A “DO NOT CONSUME” ORDER FOR CUSTOMERS of 

Columbia Water Company

DO NOT CONSUME THE DRINKING WATER 

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

 

March 14, 2013 Columbia Water Company is issuing a “DO NOT CONSUME” order for 

customers of Columbia Water Company due to potential contamination of the drinking water 

supply. It was discovered today that a break-in occurred over night at one of the storage 

tank/pumping station locations. At this time, it is unknown if the water in the storage tank was 

tampered with.

 

This notice applies to the following customers: All customers of Columbia Water Company 

except those in the Marietta Division.

 

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Customers are asked to not use 

the water for drinking, cooking, food preparation, oral hygiene or providing to pets until further 

notice. Throw away ice cubes if made with tap water after 3:30pm on March 13. The water can 

be used for sanitary purposes such as bathing and washing. If you have specific health 

concerns, you may wish to consult your doctor. 

 

Alternative water supplies are being provided by Columbia Water Company. Columbia

Water will be providing a water tanker to residents as needed. The water tankers will be 

stationed at the Columbia Shopping Plaza and the Columbia Shopping Center. You will need to 

bring your own containers to transport your water.

 

Corrective actions are being taken by Columbia Water Company. We have isolated the 

storage tank that was possibly tampered with. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental 

Protection is conducting sampling of the tank and the distribution system to identify any potential 

contamination. We will be draining the tank after sampling has been conducted.

Columbia Water Company anticipates resolving the problem within 3-5 days. Notice will be 

issued when the problem is resolved and this advisory has been lifted.

 

For more information visit our web site at http://www.columbiawaterco.com/ or call the Columbia 

Water Company at (717) 684-2188

[Wmsptwx]

Cold as all get out...

[dcfox1]

Glad i have well water.