With all of the conjecture on what Sunday\u2019s snowstorm may dump on the area, take a look back with local historians at some of the major storms that have hit Berks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor weeks on end we didn\u2019t have a full week of school,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019d be in three days for one week and miss Monday the following week.\u201d<\/p>\n
A huge nor\u2019easter arrived Jan. 6 and 7, 1996<\/a>, dumping 34 inches of snow on Berks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe snow never seemed to melt,\u201d Meiser said, noting he had to hurdle a substantial accumulation going back and forth to his car at his Exeter Township home.<\/p>\n \u201cI told Gloria (his wife), I\u2019ll be walking across this snow pile until June,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was terrible,\u201d Meiser said. \u201cWe lived at the end of West Douglass Street and they never plowed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the neighbors hung out there trying to keep warm, but they closed the building at 10 o\u2019clock. It was so cold I slept with all my clothes on and a hat.\u201d<\/p>\n Portions of the county got even more snow with a March 20 to March 21, 1958 storm. Morgantown\u00a0logged 44 inches<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meiser, 88, recalled a story told to him by late friend George Weidner about the great snowstorm of 1888.<\/p>\n Weidner lived on West Windsor Street in Reading and died at a very advanced age Meiser said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said the snow was so high, no one tried to shovel,\u201d Meiser explained. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n For retired meteorologist and Berks Area Rainfall Networks founder Jeffrey N. Stoudt, the most impactful snowstorm in his memory occurred Sunday, Jan. 30, 1966.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily the biggest, but the blowing and drifting were really amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Many refer to as the Blizzard of 1966.<\/p>\n \u201cThe schools were off the entire week Monday through Friday and some were off a few days the next week,\u201d Stoudt said.<\/p>\n He said that of course the Snowmageddon\/Snowpocalypse in 2010 made an impression when he was living in the national capitol area.<\/p>\n \u201cBerks 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,\u201d the weather historian recalled. \u201cThere was one a few days before that my dad measured 15 and some total inches in Lincoln Park.\u201d<\/p>\n Stoudt, 71, currently resides in that part of Spring Township.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n One-day snowfall extremes<\/p>\n