Storm smashes Lehigh Valley snowfall record

Jan. 24--All over the Lehigh Valley, people went to sleep Friday night anticipating the season's first snowstorm, which promised to be a doozy.

While they slept, the storm shifted course slightly as it made its way up the East Coast. On Saturday, Valley residents woke up in the storm's bullseye, with heavy snow falling and winds howling outside their windows.

More than a doozy, the storm proved historic, dumping 31.7 inches of snow and smashing the area's previous record.

Reminiscent of the epic January 1996 blizzard, which produced the previous record of 25.6 inches of snow in the Lehigh Valley, this storm generated blizzard conditions for a couple hours Saturday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Lance Franck in Mount Holly, N.J.

"That's a combination of snow and wind gusts up to 35 mph, which restricts visibility under a quarter mile," he said.

The Weather Service stopped short of calling the storm a blizzard until it can examine the data. But, "it's as close to being a blizzard as you can get," Patrick O'Hara, a Weather Service meteorologist, said as the storm raged late Saturday afternoon.

The bullseye, which was expected to hit south of the area, settled over the Lehigh Valley and northern New Jersey, Franck said, as the system shifted north. A blizzard warning, which had been in place for Philadelphia and points south Friday, was issued in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos at 9:54 a.m. Saturday.

For a storm to be elevated to blizzard status, it has to pack sustained winds of 35 mph for three hours, along with heavy snow that diminishes visibility to a quarter of a mile, said Jim Bunker, observing program leader with the Weather Service.

At Lehigh Valley International Airport, the Weather Service measured the record level at 7 p.m. The total was about equivalent to Allentown's annual snowfall average. It broke a record for snowfall during a single day and during one snow event. Philadelphia, where the snow measured 20.8 inches at 7 p.m., also broke a single-day record, though the city recorded about 30 inches of snow in the three-day 1996 blizzard. Atlantic City and Wilmington, Del., also broke snowfall records Saturday, the Weather Service said.

The storm, which dropped more than a foot of snow in the nation's capital, was blamed for at least 18 deaths, mostly in the South. It also caused hundreds of motorists to be stranded overnight on the Turnpike in Western Pennsylvania.

Jumper said high winds overnight would push back clean-up till today, when "relatively quiet" weather would make digging out easier.

Some couldn't wait that long and were on the roads Saturday, creating challenges for police and plow-drivers as stuck cars blocked access to and from streets in many Lehigh Valley neighborhoods.

"We had 53 calls [for disabled vehicles] until 1:30," said Scott Lindenmuth, Lehigh County Emergency Management director.

By about 5 p.m., that number had doubled, he said.

"Whether they're driving 4-by-4s or all-wheel drives, people aren't heeding our advice and staying in," he said.

PennDOT reported a multivehicle accident in upper Northampton County and into Monroe County that closed Route 33 between Saylorsburg and Wind Gap around 5:40 p.m. However, state police at Swiftwater said no accident occurred, but police responded to reports of tractor-trailer operators being unable to traverse the Blue Mountain.

Both directions of Route 33 were expected to be open by 9 p.m. Saturday, police said.

In his TV address, Wolf said he decided against a travel ban, which would have forced him to redirect resources from snow-plowing to enforcing the ban.

Noting that keeping roads open was difficult, Wolf said most of the state still was in "as good of shape as could be expected."

That couldn't be said for a portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where the state police and the National Guard were called to assist motorists, who had been stranded on the roadway overnight Friday into Saturday night. About 500 vehicles -- including buses carrying the Temple University gymnastics team and Duquesne University men's basketball team -- were trapped on the Turnpike as jackknifed trucks snarled traffic between Bedford and Somerset

Wolf said state police and the National Guard, along with PennDOT personnel, were going vehicle by vehicle, delivering food and fuel and ensuring everyone was safe as they worked to move cars to the exits.

Those who did travel Saturday had better success on foot. Lewis Ecker and Nehemias Nunez were among the few Saturday morning trudging through unshoveled snow on Hamilton Street in downtown Allentown. Their destination was Starbucks, which along with Pizza Mart and The Dime restaurant, was among the few restaurants open for business.

"I never do my own cooking, so food will always drag me out," Ecker said.

At the 7-Eleven on North Seventh Street, Luis Quiles of Allentown was with his 4-year-old son, Isaiah, getting coffee. After that, he planned to stop at a grocery store.

"I have a 4-by-4, so we just wanted to experience this," Quiles said. "We are thinking about going tubing at Blue Mountain later."

That would have been a problem. High winds and drifting snow prevented the resort in Lower Towamensing Township from opening its tubing trails Saturday, said Tricia Matsko, Blue Mountain's sales and marketing director. However, 37 of 39 ski trails were open and many were taking advantage of them.

"The diehards are out there," Matsko said. "This definitely puts our season in full swing."

The blanket of snow couldn't have come at a better time for ski resorts. With nearly all of December and some of January wiped out by unseasonably mild temperatures, the resorts welcomed the snowstorm.

"This is going to give us some long-term insurance for the winter," said Susan Smoll, director of the snow sports school at Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Longswamp Township, where the inn on Saturday was full.

Staying home was easier in this storm because power remained on for most people. Richard Finn, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, reported that there were about 4,400 outages statewide by mid-afternoon, which was lower than expected, considering the magnitude of the storm.

Unlike in some previous snowstorms where many spent days without power, PPL and Met-Ed managed to largely maintain service.

The few outages that cropped up during the day were mostly repaired quickly. At 5 p.m., PPL was reporting only 47 customers without power in six counties -- including Lehigh County, which had two outages. Met-Ed had about 20 customers around Topton and 20 around Quakertown without power at that time.

The story was different at the Jersey Shore, where tens of thousands of people were without power. There, surging surf was more of a threat than snow, as coastal flooding put some areas at risk of major flooding, the Weather Service said.

Across the region, the storm was easier for many to bear thanks to the kindness of good Samaritans. They were at Zion's "Liberty Bell" Church in downtown Allentown, where more then 50 people, some homeless and others hungry, headed Saturday morning for warmth and a hot breakfast.

"We'll provide coffee, and maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some soup later in the day," the Rev. Robert T. Stevens said in a news release.

And they were on Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem, where two men took it upon themselves to rescue cars that got stuck in the street Saturday night.

Even city governments pitched in, with Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton opening some public parking lots for free so residents had a place to put their cars while the plows came through.

Travel may remain tricky today as heavy winds overnight threaten to push snow back onto roads. While LVIA expects to reopen this morning, LANTA has canceled bus service.

The AMSOIL Arenacross event at PPL Center, which canceled Saturday, also canceled today's race. Andrew Mikolaichik of Scranton had checked into the Holiday Inn in downtown Allentown on Friday, hoping to stay ahead of the storm and catch the race Saturday night.

Battered by snow on the short walk from the hotel to Starbucks on Saturday morning, he knew that either way, he'd likely be spending another night in Allentown.

"I'm hoping by the time I check out tomorrow," he said, "it will be a lot better."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

SNOW COUNTS

Measurements are unofficial and were recorded around 6 p.m. Saturday.

21.5 inches: Pen Argyl

22.5 inches: Easton

23 inches: Quakertown

23.5 inches: Milford Township

23.7 inches: Bethlehem

24 inches: Northampton

Source: Observers using National Weather Service guidelines

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