Making History... Again

Skipping the maps tonight.  I can't recall the models being as consistent with a storm as they have been with this one coming on Tuesday.  Everything continues to point to a major event anywhere between one to two feet.  I favor a number in the middle and will try and get a post with maps in tomorrow night.

It's hard to believe we could again be breaking records.  The storms once labeled once in a lifetime now need to be defined by the lifetime of what.  The Blizzard of 1996 and 1993 Storm of the Century were tales of legend.  Storms that were beyond what anybody could have imagined.  Both are the only storms to receive a category 5 rating on the NESIS scale.  No other storms even come that close.  Rightly so as these events had widespread ramifications and buried millions of people in feet of snow.  That 1996 storm produced the most snow Allentown had seen in recorded history at 25.9 inches.  Not sure anybody thought something like that could happen again.

Then came 2016.  20 years after the 1996 storm another storm approached in a winter that was seriously lacking in the snow department.  We weren't in line to get buried but things changed.  31.9 inches of snow later, a full 6 inches more that the previous record, a new single storm snowfall record was set. 

The 1993 storm was a monster though not as impressive locally as 1996.  17.6 inches fell during that storm that occurred on March 13th and 14th.  Let's read that again and take note of the dates.  Currently this storm is the second biggest to ever hit Allentown in the month of March.  24 years to the exact date and we are looking at another shot at history.

It would take 20.4 inches to break the record for biggest March snowfall.  It would also place in the top 5 all time biggest snowstorms.  The fact that two storms of this magnitude could occur in back to back seasons is hard to put into words.  Bizarre might be the easiest way to put it.

In doing some research and looking at my random database of weather I figured with the way the month is going this could end up becoming the snowiest March in recorded history.  It would take additional storms to get us there after this one so there is your hint for how the rest of the month pans out in case you are looking towards Spring.  Continuing with the research theme I determined that since 1980 Allentown has received more snow in March than in December.  So again, my apologies to March for thinking that winter was over.      

SUNDAY NIGHT SNOWFALL PROJECTIONS

Euro
Allentown:  22
Reading:  22
Philadelphia:  21

NAM
Allentown:  17
Reading:  18
Philadelphia:  12

Canadian
Allentown:  25
Reading: 23
Philadelphia: 24

NOAA has not changed much since yesterday.  They tend to change as they go and will likely update the map tomorrow morning.  GFS lost an hour of sleep last night and went to bed early.  I'm not posting the totals because they seem to be well off.