Blizzard of 96 Video

[Ralph Wiggum]

 

 

[penndotguy]

definitely my all time favorite 

[RedSky]

I miss the old happy/sad clouds on the abc weather maps 

 

[ChasingFlakes]

I have pictures of our Samoyed in the snow after this storm and the only thing you could see was her black nose; however, I was pretty young so I don't have much memory of the storm.  The only other storm that I can remember rivaling this, in our area, in recent years was the January 22-24, 2016 storm.  Phoenixville reported 28" for that one and it is the only time I have seen multiple lightning flashes and heard thunder during a snowstorm.  Did anyone experience lightning or thunder during the '96 storm?  Also is there any correlation in the setups between these two storms?  They both appear to have impacted similar area with similar totals, although the 96 storm appears to have affected a broader area.  

[Ralph Wiggum]

4 hours ago, ChasingFlakes said:

I have pictures of our Samoyed in the snow after this storm and the only thing you could see was her black nose; however, I was pretty young so I don't have much memory of the storm.  The only other storm that I can remember rivaling this, in our area, in recent years was the January 22-24, 2016 storm.  Phoenixville reported 28" for that one and it is the only time I have seen multiple lightning flashes and heard thunder during a snowstorm.  Did anyone experience lightning or thunder during the '96 storm?  Also is there any correlation in the setups between these two storms?  They both appear to have impacted similar area with similar totals, although the 96 storm appears to have affected a broader area.  

This storm was when I lived in Southern Delco and we had more than the 30.7 the airport measured (which was 7 miles from my home). I remember walking in my unplowed cul de sac and the snow being in the mid part of my thigh....mind you I was/am 6'1". Was just an amazing event...my personal favorite of all-time. 

[Hurricane Agnes]

On 10/23/2019 at 4:41 PM, greenskeeper said:

blizzard of 96...lost my car in a snow drift in my own driveway....could find it only by the antenna sticking through the snow

I lucked out at the time. Where I lived (apartment) I had strategically parked my car on the WSW side of the building and since (around here) it was a 23F snow during much of the duration, so that made it a powdery snow - with probably 15 - 20:1 ratios.  Once the wrap-around winds came through, my car was almost completely clear of snow with just a little powdery stuff on the front bumper.

However with the successive plowing during the storm, one of the side streets by my complex had 6 - 7ft mounds along the sidewalks and cars that got stuck earlier during the storm, were buried and trapped in the middle of the smaller streets all around the neighborhood.

[The Iceman]

First snowstorm that I really remember. I was too young for the 93 blizzard to have any memories but I still to this day remember how long it snowed, the snow being taller than me in spots, and the giant pile of snow at the end of my street(we lived on a dead end) that we could sled down because it was so tall. It's the storm that really helped form my love of weather as a kid.

[BBasile]

Wish I had time to watch that whole video.  So many things to mention about it.  TWC used "POP" in their forecast....Hurricane's Hitler stache....JB.....I'm surprised I remember so much from that time.  

 

I was 10 at the time....I remember building a huge network of tunnels in the snow in a friend's backyard and being able to walk across the top of it all with the solid crust that the snow had.  Amazing storm. 

[Eskimo Joe]

On 10/23/2019 at 2:28 PM, Ralph Wiggum said:

 

 

I love you for finding this.  I have so many strong, wonderful memories of this event despite being only 9 at the time.

[Eskimo Joe]

I remember Tom Lamiaine on CBS 3 just botching the forecast horrifically.  He kept saying the NW suburbs would be off the hook with only a few inches even as NBC 10, FOX 29 and ABC 6 were going all in.  

[Hurricane Agnes]

2 hours ago, Eskimo Joe said:

I remember Tom Lamiaine on CBS 3 just botching the forecast horrifically.  He kept saying the NW suburbs would be off the hook with only a few inches even as NBC 10, FOX 29 and ABC 6 were going all in.  

Wow.  Tom Lamaine is a blast from the past.

I remember being glued to TWC during it (that was probably their "peak" period of existence).  Earlier in the week, the storm was being pooh-poohed as maybe a couple inches.  Then as we got closer to the weekend it became 2-4", then 3-5", then like Saturday morning, it was up to 6-10", then 10-12", and on and on as it hit that Sunday and just kept up all day Monday. It was wild watching TWC having to keep adding new colors to their precip map to designate snow depths.

LOL - just found this.  Lee's recording of footage of some of TWC's Blizzard Warning and local forecast from back then -

Some other clips here (from "TWC Classics") -

https://twcclassics.com/watch.php?file=960107-a-new-day-blizzard-of-96-coverage

https://twcclassics.com/watch.php?file=960107-blizzard-of-96-coverage-1-pm

https://twcclassics.com/watch.php?file=winter-storm-lf-3pm-010796

https://twcclassics.com/watch.php?file=winter-storm-lf-530pm-010696

[Lady Di]

I was in my young 20's in 1983.   That was the only blizzard where I experienced the thunder and lighting.

In 1996 I watched with neighbors the Eagles lose @ Dallas 30-11 while all heck was breaking loose on the roads.  Monday morning Gov. said only heating oil trucks were allowed to be out there.  I worked for an oil company at the time.  Going into work on Tuesday morning, I was loaded with some sand and a shovel in my car.  I traveled the main highway and there were still huge drifts reducing the road to 1 lane, in multiple areas on Rte 202.  It was nuts.  Thanks for the video.  It certainly is a blast from the past!!!!

Still my favorite is the 2009-10.  I can't recall the dates but we had back to back storms, one of which my location was under one of those death bands (as you call them).  I was posting here at the time.  It was intense, to say the least.

[Hurricane Agnes]

1 hour ago, Lady Di said:

I was in my young 20's in 1983.   That was the only blizzard where I experienced the thunder and lighting.

I was a senior in college at UMASS/Amherst then.  For some reason I don't remember much about it because usually the eastern side of the state got the bulk of the nor'easter snows and this particular one happened about a week after Karen Carpenter had died, so that seemed to stick with me more than the weather at the time. I used to work at the radio station on campus and did the Friday drive-time news, so remembered reporting that (also remember watching the M*A*S*H finale a couple weeks later too ).  They usually cleared the snow out pretty quickly on campus, although the snowball fights would be epic before that happened. I think there was more hullaboo about that blizzard down here than up there.