According to the October 24 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to extreme drought covers 12.0% of the contiguous U.S. Casey cited the danger to travelers and to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews who, he said, were fighting a losing battle to keep roads open. The snow actually began to fall the night of Friday, Mar. The storm also damaged about 200 homes along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, making them uninhabitable. The 1993 Storm of the Century (also known as the 93 Superstorm, The No Name Storm, or the Great Blizzard of '93/1993) was a large cyclonic storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. At around 9 pm, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapsed under the weight of the snow crushing and killing around 100 of the 300 movie goers. Jim Traynor, Amtrak station supervisor at Harrisburg Transportation Center, said trains were running on a delayed basis. Specifically, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, Morgantown, PA reported 6 inches of snow on the … Heavy snow and blizzard conditions extended from the Gulf States to New England and from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast. All rights reserved (About Us). A storm of this magnitude was not a common occurrence and if anything, they fizzled or became rainier closer to occurrence time. m_gallery_id = "19973480"; The 10 biggest snowstorms in the Harrisburg area in terms of the amount of snowfall, according to the National Weather Service State College are: … Blizzard status. Chapter 12. In March of 1993 a deadly blizzard wreaked havoc on the Tri-State Area. While the Pennsylvania blizzard of 1996 brought a ton of snowfall and dangerous conditions, there are still other storms that brought record-breaking snow to the state. For more information on how you can prepare yourself, your family, and your friends for severe weather, visit Ready.gov. Illustrating the storm’s magnitude, the National Weather Service’s Office of Hydrology estimated the storm’s equivalent total volume of water at 44 million acre-feet. A total of 31.9 inches of snow dropped in Allentown, a record for the city, while 22.4 inches dropped in Philadelphia, making it the 4th biggest snowstorm of all time for the city of Brotherly Love. Singel said one fatality had been reported so far, an apparent snow-shoveling-related death in Carbon County. Dumping snow at the rate of 4 inches an hour, the storm threatened to surpass the worst midstate storm on record one that dropped 25 inches on Feb. 11-12, 1983. for LOCAL WEATHER: additional OPTIONS: City, ST-or- ZIP code-or- ST radar-or- snow-or- map The second highest one day snowfall in Chattanooga was on December 4, 1886 when 12 inches blanketed the city. Anyone that was in the High Country during that time, or the East Coast for the matter, has a story to tell. An estimated 1,700 homes and businesses throughout the 14-county Metropolitan Edison Co. service area were without power as of 5 p.m. yesterday, said Jane Miller, Met-Ed spokeswoman. Weather-Speak. The National Weather Service says a blizzard is characterized by low temperatures, winds greater than 35 mph, and snow heavy enough to restrict visibility to less than a quarter-mile. Philadelphia International Airport also closed. Strong winds accompanied the snow, resulting in blizzard conditions and snow drifts of 6 to 10 feet. Thousands of people in … Updated dates of storm and included information about Texas damage; added 2019 CPI-adjusted cost information, Updated with 2020 CPI-adjusted cost information; updated billion-dollar disaster number. A late-winter blizzard packing high winds and snow measured in feet rather than inches roared into the midstate yesterday, closing airports, highways and businesses and leading to the declaration of a statewide snow emergency. The storm’s snowfall isolated thousands of people, especially in the Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia mountains. Unlike that storm, however, this one brought 30 mph winds, gusting to 60 mph, that whipped the snow into drifts and created "whiteout" conditions. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. This storm brought snow from South Carolina all the way to southern Massachusetts. As of the 8 p.m. deadline of the Sunday Patriot-News, Philadelphia had received 13 inches of snow and most of the rest of the state had more than 15. From a climate and forecast perspective the city of Philadelphia had only one double digit snow storm between the February 1983 storm and this blizzard: The Storm Of The Century in March of 1993. "I have no idea where they were heading," a Northern York County Regional police officer said. 36 inches at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with 10-foot drifts Overall, the storm ranked as Extreme, or a Category 5, on the Regional Snowfall Index for the Northeast, Southeast, and Ohio Valley regions. This was the first state weather emergency declared since a major ice storm struck the state in the mid- to-late 1970s, Singel said. The storm will be remembered for its tremendous snowfall totals from Alabama through Maine, high winds all along the East coast, extreme coastal flooding along the Florida west coast, incredibly low barometric pressures across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, and for the unseasonably cold air that followed behind the storm. A fair criticism would be that these high marks might be outliers or flukes that might mislead about overall immensity, especially since unofficial spotter reports have been included in some cases. From The Patriot, March 14, 1993: A late-winter blizzard packing high winds and snow … Double-digit snowfall totals were measured in 20 states from Alabama to Maine. However, another 48 people were reported missing at sea. This week's blizzard exceeded the 12 inches of snow left during 1993's so-called "Storm of the Century." Gov. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Snowfall amounts of 20 or more inches were confined to the western fringe of the state in 1993 but covered the western half of the state in 1996, according to National Weather Service data. Snowfall totals from the storm topped out near 42 inches in West Virginia and at least 14 states in total received more than a foot of snow from the storm. If blowing snow restricts visibility to below a quarter-mile, even after the snow stops falling, that's called a ground blizzard. That’s comparable to 40 days’ flow on the Mississippi River at New Orleans—enough water to flood nearly the entire state of Missouri 1 foot deep. Heavy snow continued to fall through the day and ended just before midnight. Here, then, is a new look at local snowstorm history, based on the highest snowfall totals reported anywhere in the eight-county area, according to several sets of National Weather Service records. The Blizzard of 1993 ranks as the second worst snowstorm to impact the Southeast, Ohio Valley, and the Northeast. The Blizzard of 1996 was a severe nor'easter that paralyzed the United States East Coast with up to 4 feet (1.2 m) of wind-driven snow from January 6 to January 8, 1996. The Blizzard of March 1993 March 12-14, 1993 (AKA, The March Superstorm) Described as one of the largest and most intense storms in a century, the March 12-14,1993 blizzard paralyzed the eastern seaboard with record cold, snow, and wind. Synoptic Discussion 1993 storm shares anniversary with 1888 New York City blizzard, 125 years ago Just 105 years before the great Blizzard of 1993, another great cold-season storm raked the Eastern United States. Snow totals from this storm in the D.C. area ranged from around 24 … A total of 128 men were being sheltered at Bethesda Mission's Reily Street men's shelter, which has 100 beds, said Bryan Yesalonis, executive director. Described as one of the largest and most intense storms in a century, the March 12-14,1993 blizzard paralyzed the eastern seaboard with record cold, snow, and wind. This storm was a classic example of a nor'easter, but the storm would not have been as historically significant without the presence of the arctic high pressure system located to the north of New York. One of the worst winter storms of the 20th Century buried the east coast of the United States under feet of snow 25 years ago, with devastating impacts from the Gulf Coast to Canada. During June 2018, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 71.5°F, 3.0°F above the 20th century average. Crews were trying to keep the major roadways open, but "they just can't get ahead of it," said Bruce Donley, a PennDOT radio operator in Dauphin County. Gusty winds and snow knocked out electricity to about 2,000 Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers in the Harrisburg Division, John B. Wilt, a PP&L spokesman said. Philadelphia saw a record-breaking, at the time, foot of snow in only 24 hours while 23.6 inches fell during that same time period in Pittsburgh. Power was restored to most by yesterday afternoon. According to the January 9 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to extreme drought covers 32.1% of the contiguous U.S. On This Day: The 1993 Storm of the Century, this storm remains the country’s most costly winter storm to date, the Storm of the Century still ranks as the second worst snowstorm to impact the Northeast, Southeast, and Ohio Valley, more than 270 people in 13 different states died because of the storm, Updated dates of storm and included information about Texas damage; added 2019, weather and climate events with damages exceeding $1 billion, Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, Satellite Animation of the Storm of the Century, More on the Storm of the Century from NOAA’s National Weather Service, U.S. Drought Monitor Update for October 24, 2017, September 2018 Regional Climate Impacts and Outlooks, U.S. Drought Monitor Update for January 9, 2018, 50 inches at Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, with 14-foot drifts, 36 inches at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with 10-foot drifts. Was it the winter storm of the century? Guard units were placed on standby around Pennsylvania. The blizzard pummeled the region with feet of snow, hitting areas in Lehigh and Northampton counties -- where snow totals peaked above 30 inches -- the hardest. Subscribe to PennLive. The two-day blizzard started on Jan. 7 and dumped up to 3 feet of snow in York County, Pa. Overall, more than 270 people in 13 different states died because of the storm. The two-day blizzard started on Jan. 7 and dumped up to 3 feet of snow in York County, Pa. According to the National Weather Service, 20.4 inches of snow fell March 13-15, 1993. From a climate and forecast perspective the city of Philadelphia had only one double digit snow storm between the February 1983 storm and this blizzard: The Storm Of The Century in March of 1993. m_gallery_permalink = "http://photos.pennlive.com/4503/gallery/march_1993_snowstorm/index.html"; Before the monster storm system developed over the East, it spun up over Texas, bringing damaging winds and hail to southeastern areas of the Lone Star State the evening of March 11. © 2021 Advance Local Media LLC. In March of 1993 a deadly blizzard wreaked havoc on the Tri-State Area. One of the most amazing measurements occurred at the Morgantown, PA exchange of the PA Turnpike (elevation of 750 feet) where an astonishing 50 inches of snow accumulated during the entire March blizzard - still the highest ever for a single snowstorm in southeastern PA. m_gallery_json = "https://blog.pennlive.com/photogallery/4503/19973480.json"; "In the consideration of safety, to assure we leave nobody stranded on those interstates after dark, we're asking people to get off the interstates," he said. The storm’s high winds were also extremely devastating, with at least 15 stations along the East Coast reporting wind gusts of 70 miles per hour or stronger. The September 2018 three-month summaries of climate impacts and outlooks are available for 10 regions and subregions of the United States. Vehicles being driven on snow emergency routes were required to have chains and or snow tires. 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