Heavy Snow — Montgomery, Pennsylvania

1996-01-12 · Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Wider weather episode

For the second time within a week heavy snow moved into Southeast Pennsylvania. Fortunately accumulations were lighter than with the preceding blizzard. The storm moved from the Lower Tennessee Valley on the evening of the 11th to eastern North Carolina the morning of the 12th and passed just to the east of New Jersey during the late afternoon of the 12th into Southern New England on the 13th. Snow fell for about a twelve hour period during the day.Accumulations were seven to ten inches in Monroe and Carbon Counties, four to six inches across the rest of Southeast Pennsylvania except in Delaware and Philadelphia Counties where a quicker change to rain held accumulations to three inches or less. Reading's seasonal accumulation of 70 inches already broke its all-time snow record set just two years ago. Representative accumulations included 10 inches in Jim Thorpe, 8 inches in Long Valley, 6 inches in Allentown, Downingtown, Doylestown, Pottstown and Telford and 3 inches in Manayunk. The storm caused the hypothermic death of a 90-year-old woman found in the parking lot of the Normandy Farm Estates parking lot in Whitpain Township. Other storm related deaths included two Montgomery County men and two Northampton County persons suffering heart attacks after shoveling snow and a 35 year-old man who skidded into oncoming traffic in Berks County. The eastbound lanes of Interstate 78 were closed for three and a half hours around Allentown. Firefighters in Philadelphia were hampered by snow covered side streets. A fire claimed the lives of two persons. The storm lengthened the commute around Philadelphia exponetially as 14 major traffic jams were reported. But, the biggest problem came literally from the accumulative effects of two significant snows as building and roof collapses occurred throughout Eastern Pennsylvania. In Wyomissing (Berks County), a woman was hospitalized after snow falling from her roof buried her alive. In Chester County alone there were 18 reported building and/or roof collapses. In Quakertown (Bucks County), another woman was injured as the weight of the snow collapsed four successive porch roofs on Juniper Street. In Whitehall Township (Lehigh County), 60 hockey players were trapped as the roof of the Lehigh Valley Ice Arena collapsed. Two women narrowly escaped injury when the top floor of a vacant Allentown office building collapsed. Other significant collapses (including damage estimates) included the Panther Valley High School Roof ($ 30K) in Carbon County, The Summer Pavilion ($ 10K) in Reading, the Clover Farms Muhlenberg Warehouse ($ 200K) in Berks County, the Serve Pro Coperation Roof ($150K) in Coopersburg (Lehigh County), the roof of "The Atrium" ($300K) in Quakertown and the roof of the Rhineland Inn Restaurant ($70K) in Marlborough Township in Montgomery Township. One person was injured trying to clear the snow from his roof in Chester County.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5543021. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.