With all of the conjecture on what Sunday’s snowstorm may dump on the area, take a look back with local historians at some of the major storms that have hit Berks.
The winter of 1995-1996 stood out for George M. Meiser IX, Berks County historian, who retired from teaching in the Wyomissing School District in 1996.
“For weeks on end we didn’t have a full week of school,” he said. “We’d be in three days for one week and miss Monday the following week.”
A huge nor’easter arrived Jan. 6 and 7, 1996, dumping 34 inches of snow on Berks.
“The snow never seemed to melt,” Meiser said, noting he had to hurdle a substantial accumulation going back and forth to his car at his Exeter Township home.
“I told Gloria (his wife), I’ll be walking across this snow pile until June,” he said.
Another storm that stuck out to Meiser was the one that hit Feb. 15-16, 1958, depositing 18.7 inches on Berks, according to National Weather Service records.
“It was terrible,” Meiser said. “We lived at the end of West Douglass Street and they never plowed.
“We lost heat and we went to the fieldhouse in Baer Park, and all the neighbors who had no electricity or no heat built a big fire in the fireplace, which is still there today.
“All the neighbors hung out there trying to keep warm, but they closed the building at 10 o’clock. It was so cold I slept with all my clothes on and a hat.”
Portions of the county got even more snow with a March 20 to March 21, 1958 storm. Morgantown logged 44 inches.
Meiser, 88, recalled a story told to him by late friend George Weidner about the great snowstorm of 1888.
Weidner lived on West Windsor Street in Reading and died at a very advanced age Meiser said.
“He said the snow was so high, no one tried to shovel,” Meiser explained. “They dug tunnels. All the neighbors came out, and they dug to a central tunnel that led to the grocery store. By the time they had a great master tunnel, the store ran out of groceries.”
For retired meteorologist and Berks Area Rainfall Networks founder Jeffrey N. Stoudt, the most impactful snowstorm in his memory occurred Sunday, Jan. 30, 1966.
“It’s not necessarily the biggest, but the blowing and drifting were really amazing,” he said.
Many refer to as the Blizzard of 1966.
“The schools were off the entire week Monday through Friday and some were off a few days the next week,” Stoudt said.
He said that of course the Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse in 2010 made an impression when he was living in the national capitol area.
“Berks County had decent amounts from those too; one of those is on the Top 10 list with 20.3 for Feb. 9 and 10, 2010,” the weather historian recalled. “There was one a few days before that my dad measured 15 and some total inches in Lincoln Park.”
Stoudt, 71, currently resides in that part of Spring Township.
On Thursday afternoon, with the information available at the time, Stoudt said his predictions was for about 1 foot of snow to fall in the Berks area, noting it could range up to 18 inches or as little as 6 inches nearby.
One-day snowfall extremes
According to the the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, these are the one-day snowfall extremes in select areas of Pennsylvania:
March 20, 1958, Morgantown, Berks County 34 inches.
Feb. 22, 2021, Springtown, Bucks County, 22.8 inches.
Feb. 13, 1899, Coatesville, Chester County, 35.3 inches.
Jan. 1, 1996, Philadelphia International Airport, Delaware County, 27.6 inches.
Jan. 24, 2016, Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, 27.9 inches.
Jan. 23, 2016, Lebanon, Lebanon County, 24 inches.
Jan. 8, 1996, Palm, Montgomery County, 30 inches.
Jan. 8, 1996, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 24 inches.
Jan. 22, 1925, Pottsville, Schuylkill County, 25.8 inches
Berks County snowfall records
Inches Dates
34.0: Jan. 7-9, 1996
27.0: Jan. 21-22, 2016
24.0: Feb. 16-17, 2003; Feb. 11, 1983
23.6: March 12-13, 1888
20.3: Feb. 9-10, 2010; Dec. 25-26, 1909
19.0: Feb. 19, 1979
18.7: Feb. 15-16, 1958
18.6: Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2021
18.0: Feb. 2, 2021
Buried in snow, buried in memory: The Blizzard of ’96 [Opinion]