The Dexes / Winter Storm, Blizzard & Heavy Snow / 5691835
Eventdex · Winter Storm, Blizzard & Heavy Snow
BERKS
5691835
The record
Everything the slot carries, as measured. Series arrays are drawn above and listed here in full.
| Event typeevent_type | Heavy Snow |
|---|---|
| NOAA NCEI event IDncei_event_id | 5,691,835 |
| Episode IDepisode_id | 1,503,427 |
| Begin UTCbegin_utc | 1999-03-14T16:00:00+00:00 |
| End UTCend_utc | 1999-03-15T06:00:00+00:00 |
| Statestate | PENNSYLVANIA |
| County/zone typecz_type | Z |
| County/zone namecz_name | BERKS |
| Deaths directdeaths_direct | 0 |
| Deaths indirectdeaths_indirect | 0 |
| Injuries directinjuries_direct | 0 |
| Injuries indirectinjuries_indirect | 0 |
| Damage cropsdamage_crops | 0 |
| Weather forecast office sourcewfo_source | TRAINED SPOTTER |
| Episode narrativeepisode_narrative | A coastal low pressure system brought heavy wet snow to most of Eastern Pennsylvania from around noon on the 14th into the early morning of the 15th. The heavy wet snow also tore down trees, tree limbs and wires, especially in the Philadelphia suburbs. About 189,000 PECO customers lost power and ranked as one of the utility's ten worst outages on record. Twice as many customers lost power as did during the Blizzard of 1996. Power was not completely restored until the evening of the 16th. Accumulations were generally between 5 and 10 inches. Lighter amounts accumulated near the Delaware River and in sections of Berks and Carbon Counties. Several districts closed their schools around Philadelphia on the 15th. Numerous accidents occurred, most though were fender benders. Several persons suffered heart attacks from shoveling the heavy, wet snow. At least one man, a 50-year-old from Radnor (Delaware County) died. Precipitation started as snow around noon on the 14th. The air had warmed enough near Philadelphia for precipitation to start as rain. But as the intensity increased, the rain changed to snow in all areas around 2 p.m. EST. The rain/snow line had a difficult time lifting north from Delaware and Maryland. The heavy precipitation rate kept heavy, wet snow falling. The snow changed to rain in Philadelphia around 11 p.m. EST and the nearby suburbs before precipitation ended during the early morning hours. A second shot of light snow brought little additional accumulations during the morning of the 15th. Numerous accidents occurred during the afternoon of the 14th in the Philadelphia suburbs. On the Pennsylvania Turnpike, more than 70 accidents and stuck vehicles occurred. In Bucks County, a major accident on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike tied up traffic for hours. Numerous accidents also occurred in the county on Pennsylvania State Routes 212, 232 and 611. Accidents with injuries occurred in both Chester and Montgomery Counties. Between 1230 p.m. and 530 p.m. EST emergency personnel responded to 20 calls in Chester County. A 60 passenger Greyhound bus became stuck in the snow in Delaware County. None of the passengers were hurt. Fewer accidents occurred during the (Sunday) evening of the 14th as the traffic volume became lighter. The heavy, wet snow forced both the Hatfield and Lansdale (Montgomery County) police to declare snow emergencies. The heavy, wet snow started to tear down tree limbs, trees and power lines from 9 p.m. EST on the 14th onward. Before the storm ended, about 189,000 PECO customers lost power. Hardest hit was Chester County with 95,000 customers losing power. There were 43,000 outages in Delaware County, mostly in communities near the Chester County border. There were also 26,000 outages in Montgomery County, 18,600 in Bucks County and 6,400 within Philadelphia. In Delaware County, the Wayne area of Radnor Township had numerous trees down and the whole downtown area was blacked out. Dozens of roads were closed in Marple Township because of the downed trees and wires. About 200 homes in the county also lost phone service. In Montgomery County, the worst problems were reported in the lower half of the county. Numerous outages occurred in Narberth and Lower Merion Township. One tree fell on and damaged a home in Abington. The combination of power outages , blocked roads and the heavy snow forced many school districts to cancel classes on (Monday) the 15th. Heavy,wet snow also took down tree limbs and power lines in the Lehigh Valley, although the outages were not as widespread. About 6,500 Pennsylvania Power and Light customers lost power in the Lehigh Valley and extreme northern sections of Montgomery and Bucks Counties.Accumulations included 10 inches in Long Pond (Monroe County), Honey Brook (Chester County) and Williams Township (Northampton County), 9.3 inches in Morgantown (Berks County), 9.2 inches in Exton (Chester County), 9 inches in Pocono Summit (Monroe County) and Springtown (Bucks County), 8.5 inches in Perkasie (Bucks County) and Pike Township (Berks County), 8 inches at the F. E. Walter Dam (Carbon County), Fricks (Bucks County), Boyertown (Berks County) and Nazareth (Northampton County), 7 inches in Southampton (Bucks County) and Hatfield and Royersford (Montgomery County), 6 inches in Palm and Hatboro (Montgomery County), 5.5 inches in Reading (Berks County) and Wynnewood (Montgomery County), 5 inches in West Chester (Chester County) and Doylestown (Bucks County), 4.8 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport, 4.2 inches in East Stroudsburg (Monroe County) and 3 inches at the Blue Marsh Dam (Berks County), Lehighton (Carbon County), Center City Philadelphia and Langhorne (Bucks County). The low pressure system developed along the Gulf Coast States the morning of the 13th. During the morning of the 14th it had moved into Alabama and was located just east of the Delmarva Peninsula around daybreak of the 15th. The storm intensified and moved rapidly offshore on the 15th and reached Nova Scotia the morning of the 16th. |
| Yearyear | 1,999 |
Provenance
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