18 years ago today in western/central PA

[Avdave]

Interstates closed, airports closed, national guard mobilized. My first storm in the southern PA mtns after moving there and what a welcome it was.

30 some inches of snow we got.

Massive drifts around Cresson and Ebensburg, just wild

How much snow did you get from this superstorm?

[PennMan]

We got stranded at my grandparents' place, about 40 miles east of State College. My parents thought it wouldn't be too bad...lol. We were stuck there for an extra two days. I don't recall a whole lot...mostly just walking in what seemed like tunnels where my parents and grandparents had shoveled out. Some of the drifts were insane. Had 25-30" there. 18-20" at home in Lebanon County.

[CoraopolisWx]

Was in 10th grade participating in a science competition at Brashear H.S.

Our teacher caught some heat for us being out in the blizzard, I guess he didn't want us kids to be dissapointed by having to miss the event after all the work we did leading up.

[Digger]

I plowed for about 20 hours, tried to go home to take a break, and couldn't park the truck anywhere without it probably getting stuck, so I just kept going. Got a few hours of sleep in the truck a while later. All told, I was plowing for 30 out of 36 hours.

Specific memories--One lot that I still do, that normally takes about an hour and a half, by the time I finished, I couldn't even tell that I'd been there to begin with.

The place that's now DSW Shoes in Robinson, used to be Sun TV. About 10 0'clock Saturday morning we're plowing it, just trying to stay ahead of things, and this couple pulls into the lot and parks (right in the middle of everything, of course). All I could think was "What kind of ******* idiot is out shopping for a TV this morning??"

The parkway being totally empty, except for the vehicles stranded on it. We knew that technically it was closed, but we were running back and forth on it anyway. There was an 18 wheeler almost totally sideways on the hill between Carnegie and Rosslyn Farms outbound. It was there for a couple of days.

Snow up to the door handles on the truck after making just a couple of passes with the blade angled. Plowing in two truck teams, because we all got stuck at least a couple of times, and had to hook up and pull one another out.

Oh yeah, good times...

[Itstrainingtime]

Got 17" of snow followed by several hours of pounding, wind-driven sleet here along the Susquehanna river. Amazing storm, watching the Weather Channel that morning and seeing the whiteout conditions in Atlanta of all places, in the middle of March was something else. Even though I got less than half the amount of snow as areas further west, it was probably the best strom I've ever tracked, and I've been around for a good little while.

[sauss06]

What a friggin awesome storm. At the time, i lived on a back road with only our house and 1 other. They couldn't even plow our road, they had too bring in front end loaders. that was on Wednesday morning, which was days after the storm. The only reason they got me out then was they needed me at the firehouse to drive so i could releive the guys who had been there for days.

[Organizing Low]

great stories guys, from the greatest winter storm of all time.

[CNYWeather]

Lived in Utica, NY on a 40x100' lot. Absolutely no place to put the snow.

I believe I measured somewhere around 30" +/-

[PennMan]

Lived in Utica, NY on a 40x100' lot. Absolutely no place to put the snow.

I believe I measured somewhere around 30" +/-

Central NY had a decent snowcover before the Superstorm, correct?

[MAG5035]

I wish I had photographic or video evidence of this storm to better reminisce the whole ordeal because I was only 7 years old at the time and that's getting to the part of my childhood where I only remember bits and pieces of major things that happen. To be more precise my birthday is today, so 18 years ago I was extremely unhappy that my birthday party was cancelled by the blizzard. Other than that I remember riding around with my dad early in the storm as he was plowing, and him leaving me at my grandparents cuz it was getting too bad.

When I worked at PennDOT there was an occasion or two I had asked a couple of the guys what that storm was like, and they told me about some of the certain rural roads (very drift prone) that took up to a week to dig out because drifts were so high. Really, really wish I could remember this more. Some of the more recent storms may have dumped more snowfall in some locations, but I think this event stands alone around here due to the combo of the wind and the snow. You look at archived data from places like PIT, JST, UNV, and AOO and you see an 18-24 hour period were winds were gusting at least 35-40mph, with most of that being during the actual storm. For PIT, JST, and AOO.. the Feb 6, 2010 storm was probably the closest recent example to that storm (96 blizzard highest impacts generally farther east) and the winds weren't even close. The fact that good radar data and overall coverage of the storm is fairly hard to find for western/central PA kinda adds to the lore of the whole thing as well.

[JamieOber]

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.

Now, in State College, they got whomped again in March 1994, and some around here said that storm was just as impressive.

[Organizing Low]

one thing ill never forget about this storm is when highly respected meteoroogist Kevin Williams from rochester NY came on TV for his nightly news segment, about 4 or 5 days before the storm.......we got the channel in ottawa, canada at the time.

before his segment got started,

he held up a piece of paper which was a weather map that his computer had printed out and had all these lines on it.......never before done on TV!

he held it up for the camera while he was sitting at the desk (before he walked over to do his weather forecast).....and led off the segment with shock and disbelief in his voice:

"I have never seen anything like this'

what a moment that was in TV forecasting history.

[CNYWeather]

Central NY had a decent snowcover before the Superstorm, correct?

Yeah if I remember right, my back yard had somewhere around 7 feet of snow shoveled into it.

I've got pictures somewhere buried away. The kids were small and walked on top of the snow

and they were close to the top of the windows on parts of the house.

[Avdave]

I wish I had photographic or video evidence of this storm to better reminisce the whole ordeal because I was only 7 years old at the time and that's getting to the part of my childhood where I only remember bits and pieces of major things that happen. To be more precise my birthday is today, so 18 years ago I was extremely unhappy that my birthday party was cancelled by the blizzard. Other than that I remember riding around with my dad early in the storm as he was plowing, and him leaving me at my grandparents cuz it was getting too bad.

When I worked at PennDOT there was an occasion or two I had asked a couple of the guys what that storm was like, and they told me about some of the certain rural roads (very drift prone) that took up to a week to dig out because drifts were so high. Really, really wish I could remember this more. Some of the more recent storms may have dumped more snowfall in some locations, but I think this event stands alone around here due to the combo of the wind and the snow. You look at archived data from places like PIT, JST, UNV, and AOO and you see an 18-24 hour period were winds were gusting at least 35-40mph, with most of that being during the actual storm. For PIT, JST, and AOO.. the Feb 6, 2010 storm was probably the closest recent example to that storm (96 blizzard highest impacts generally farther east) and the winds weren't even close. The fact that good radar data and overall coverage of the storm is fairly hard to find for western/central PA kinda adds to the lore of the whole thing as well.

Is was such a storm that covered a large area but not the best media coverage. I have a VHS tape full of video from Stations in JST and PIT and State College area. I watch that tape over and over, what a wicked storm it was

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.

Now, in State College, they got whomped again in March 1994, and some around here said that storm was just as impressive.

WOw that is a crazy story but after being there last year, I know the area up there. What a mess that had to be. I remember on my way home from work the day before the storm started I stopped at the liquour store in Corriganville, Md before heading home and picking up some stuff for the duration of the storm. Made it a lot more fun

[Digger]

Reading the other posts reminded me of a couple more things...

Drifting--on 60 in Robinson in the strip mall across the intersection from Eat N Park, the building that is now The Golf Shop The building is pretty much oriented east to west. On the west corner snow had drifted up against the west wall, as high as the top of the building. Biggest drift I've ever seen.

King's Resturaunt, down by the 79 interchage with 60. We stopped in there to try and get some breakfast. The manager pretty much was telling people that it was going to be a pretty long wait, because almost none of his wait staff had been able to get to work. Some people had walked down from the motel up the hill, and one lady said she'd been a waitress, and she just pitched in and started waiting tables. We left her a really decent tip.

Party--we had a St Paddy's day party at my Mom's the night before. My Uncle had come in from Gettysburg. He hadn't even heard the weather forecast. I hated to tell him he wasn't going home for a couple of days.

Another Uncle marched in the St Paddy's Day parade. He'd parked in the PAT Park and Ride lot at Potomac Ave. in Dormont, and taken the T downtown. He didn't get his car back until Wednesday...

[sauss06]

Couple other memories

- As Jamie had said, i was telling people Friday night at our local pub we hung out at about the storm, they too all laughed. I made a couple wagers, guess who won? (drunks are easy to bet against)

- As i mentioned, we lived on a dead end, with only our house and another. The area drifts bad. On Saturday night late i went to let the dog out and the snow had drifted against the backof the house and was above the window of the door.

- The township was instructed to come plow me out so i could get to the firehouse. They couldn't plow it because of the drifts and had to bring in a front end loader

- It was only 1 of 2 or 3 storms ( that i remember) where we had to use snowmobiles and or 4-Wheelers with sleds to help the medics on Med assist calls.and to get stranded motoists off I-81

- i responded to more roof collapse's and other associated building issues because of the weight of the snow in a 24 hour period then in my entire career.

- its the slowest i ever drove a Fire truck to a call. maybe 1-2 mph. i just could not see! I'm not sure i can describe it, the way the snow was coming down and the way the wind was blowing it straight at the windshield. It definitly was not safe being on the road. I was totally driving on instinct. I lived in this town all my life, i know every hill and back alley etc. there is and that helped, but not much. my heart was pounding out of my chest. i had 6 guys on that rig, If i made 1 wrong turn........

- i was up for almost 3 days, then slept for like 16.

- I remember going out the road in a full size chevy blazer. The road kept drifting shut. We followed a State road gradder through. it was like we driving in a tunnel. the sides of the snow banks were higher then this blazer (by feet)

i'm sure i'll think of more

[north pgh]

I was living in a townhouse with my wife in Plum. We were supposed to drive to Southwest New York to visit her parents on Friday night for a short weekend. I remember calling her at work on Friday to tell her we werent going because there was a "blizzard Warning". In all my years of following the weather in Pittsburgh I don't recall having one except for maybe a squall line when I was little.

When we woke up Saturday morning it was snowing heavy already and our cars were already snowed in. We needed a few groceries so we walked what would normally be a 15 minute walk to a grocery store on Rt. 286. It took us several hours going down and back because the walking conditions were horrible. I remember the winds were gusting 30-40mph sustained and we had thunder and lightning for a good 3 hour stretch in the late afternoon. We lost power several times and ended up playing board games and talked on the phone with various people. I also had TWC on because with no computers back then it was all I had. When the power was out I had no way to even get forecasts or updates and the windows were covered from the blowing snow. I had to go outside to check the current conditions. I wish I had pictures. I remember on Sunday trying to shovel our cars out. They were completely covered and it was hard to put the snow anywhere. I believe it took several hours just to get a car uncovered.

[JamieOber]

Reading the other posts reminded me of a couple more things...

Drifting--on 60 in Robinson in the strip mall across the intersection from Eat N Park, the building that is now The Golf Shop The building is pretty much oriented east to west. On the west corner snow had drifted up against the west wall, as high as the top of the building. Biggest drift I've ever seen.

King's Resturaunt, down by the 79 interchage with 60. We stopped in there to try and get some breakfast. The manager pretty much was telling people that it was going to be a pretty long wait, because almost none of his wait staff had been able to get to work. Some people had walked down from the motel up the hill, and one lady said she'd been a waitress, and she just pitched in and started waiting tables. We left her a really decent tip.

Party--we had a St Paddy's day party at my Mom's the night before. My Uncle had come in from Gettysburg. He hadn't even heard the weather forecast. I hated to tell him he wasn't going home for a couple of days.

Another Uncle marched in the St Paddy's Day parade. He'd parked in the PAT Park and Ride lot at Potomac Ave. in Dormont, and taken the T downtown. He didn't get his car back until Wednesday...

Remember all the guff the parade organizer took for not cancelling?

I also remember the crazy stadium/arena vendor marching in it wearing nothing but shorts and sneakers - you guys know who I mean? The guy was a staple at the Civic Arena/Three Rivers.

[north pgh]

Remember all the guff the parade organizer took for not cancelling?

I also remember the crazy stadium/arena vendor marching in it wearing nothing but shorts and sneakers - you guys know who I mean? The guy was a staple at the Civic Arena/Three Rivers.

http://www.pittsburghirish.org/parade/Blizzard/index.htm

[meatwad]

This storm is my favorites storm, I remember tons of lightning and thunder as well. I got about ~24" of snow, it was hard to measure because of all the blowing and drifting, and I even heard the hurricane like roar of the wind. This storm saved the winter of 1992-1993 from being a turd of a winter. Very impressive storm for March. Just imagine what it would be like if it was in January instead of March.

[JamieOber]

This storm is my favorites storm, I remember tons of lightning and thunder as well. I got about ~24" of snow, it was hard to measure because of all the blowing and drifting, and I even heard the hurricane like roar of the wind. This storm saved the winter of 1992-1993 from being a turd of a winter. Very impressive storm for March. Just imagine what it would be like if it was in January instead of March.

Actually, that winter went like this, pulling from AccuWeather Pro's climo site:

- Got 1-2 inches to start things off 10/18-19 - for some reason I remember that, was walking somewhere in heavy wet snow. 1.6 in Oct.

- Typical November, 2.0 inches, we had a cold snap mid month that provided much of that via snow showers.

- December began with a sloppy storm that put down 2.8 but was miserable wet stuff. Then on Dec. 10-11 we got 9.1 inches of wet snow. I remember losing power on Mt. Washington due to a falling tree branch and my dickweed landlord was mad because I called Duquesne Light to report it. No idea why. Ended above normal, 14.3. Pretty much normal winter up to that point.

- January, Torchapalooza, +7.3 above normal, near 70 a few days after new year's. Whopping .8 of snow. Winter went away for awhile. Yeah, that part was a turd.

- February winter came back with a nasty attitude mid-month, sloppy mid-month storm then a lot of cold rest of the month, including a 7.1 inch storm and a 3 inch clipper a day later. 18.5 inches in 13 days. Who you callin' a turd?

- March, brief warm shot ends with a rain to snow event that put down 5.5. Couple of minor events then the big dog.

And that was that, .8 inches in April but no big deal. That was Pittsburgh's 7th snowiest winter, and right before the SuperStorm was above normal for snow. There was a long sucky period but I wouldn't call it a turd.

[Avdave]

Actually, that winter went like this, pulling from AccuWeather Pro's climo site:

- Got 1-2 inches to start things off 10/18-19 - for some reason I remember that, was walking somewhere in heavy wet snow. 1.6 in Oct.

- Typical November, 2.0 inches, we had a cold snap mid month that provided much of that via snow showers.

- December began with a sloppy storm that put down 2.8 but was miserable wet stuff. Then on Dec. 10-11 we got 9.1 inches of wet snow. I remember losing power on Mt. Washington due to a falling tree branch and my dickweed landlord was mad because I called Duquesne Light to report it. No idea why. Ended above normal, 14.3. Pretty much normal winter up to that point.

- January, Torchapalooza, +7.3 above normal, near 70 a few days after new year's. Whopping .8 of snow. Winter went away for awhile. Yeah, that part was a turd.

- February winter came back with a nasty attitude mid-month, sloppy mid-month storm then a lot of cold rest of the month, including a 7.1 inch storm and a 3 inch clipper a day later. 18.5 inches in 13 days. Who you callin' a turd?

- March, brief warm shot ends with a rain to snow event that put down 5.5. Couple of minor events then the big dog.

And that was that, .8 inches in April but no big deal. That was Pittsburgh's 7th snowiest winter, and right before the SuperStorm was above normal for snow. There was a long sucky period but I wouldn't call it a turd.

i think it was Halloween 92, did the area get snow? I remembered I wasnt living out there yet but was visiting my ex GF and I think it did snow. If not then maybe was 10/18-19 I am thinking of

[JamieOber]

i think it was Halloween 92, did the area get snow? I remembered I wasnt living out there yet but was visiting my ex GF and I think it did snow. If not then maybe was 10/18-19 I am thinking of

Nah, that was 1993. Insane event, like six inches.

[Avdave]

Nah, that was 1993. Insane event, like six inches.

Thanks. I thought it wasnt right on my dates

Ok thats right, I just started dating her in Aug 92, so I was living out there in OCT 93. Yeah that was a cool event. Once night fall came, it really started to add up.