Blizzard memories
On this date 20 years ago, a real Storm of the Century.
Driving to work on the Schuylkill the morning of Jan. 7, 1996, was an experience similar to riding through a food processor that was shredding coconut.
We had never experienced snow that heavy -- and haven't since, not even during the incredible snow blitzes of 2009-10.
We found the Vine Street exit ramp only through a profoundly lucky guess.
By 11:59 p.m., an official, and quite controversial, 27.5 inches had landed at Philadelphia International Airport, not only a record for any calendar day: Never had more than 27 inches fallen during an entire January.
Periods of snow persisted into the next day, a Monday, bringing the storm total to 30.7, literarlly unbelievable, smashing the old record for a single storm by 9.4 inches.
The region was not so much shut down as entombed by the snow. We wrote an account for the following Sunday's Inquirer.
On Jan. 8, that surreal first day of the work week the streets of Center City belonged to cross-country skiers and seekers of winter solitude.
The storm was born of an extreme form of a standard recipe -- cold air to the north, warm Gulf Stream waters,potent jet-stream winds, and an ultra-juicy nor'easter.
The snow amounts were so prodigious as to leave some folks incredulous
In fact, Gary Szatkowski, who runs the local National Weather Service Office, commissioned an investigation by David Robinson, the Rutgers University professor who is an expert on all snow matters, and Jon Nese, then the Franklin Institute meteorologist.
They concluded tthat the 30.7 was real, based on comparable measurements elsewhere, including 36 inches in parts of South Jersey and the Pennsylvania suburban counties..
Perhaps ironically, the storm did not meet the official criteria of "blizzard" at the airport. The 31 m.p.h. winds fell short of the 35 m.p.h. criteria.
But Tony Gigi and others at the weather service office conclude that was a mere technicality, and that in all likelihood the criteria were met in places where people actualy lived.
For all the staff's hard work that day,it turned out that the governor closed the roads and we couldn't deliver The Inquirer.
A colleague informed us that his sister did read our stories online. Imagine that!