The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:30 PM

Erie, Pennsylvania, Smashes State Snowfall Record With More Than 60 Inches of Snow Since Christmas Eve

A lake-effect snowstorm hammered Erie, Pennsylvania, Christmas Day into Tuesday, shattering not only city records, but also at least one all-time Pennsylvania snowstorm record

A stationary lake-effect snow band off Lake Erie dumped an incredible 34 inches of snow at Erie Airport on Christmas Day alone, quadrupling their previous record snowiest Christmas Day - 8.1 inches in 2002 - as well as smashing their all-time snowiest single day on record by over a foot - 20 inches on Nov. 11, 1956.

That heavy snow continued into early Wednesday, bringing their storm total since 7 p.m. EST Christmas Eve to an incredible 63.8 inches of snow - more than five feet of snow - in just 60 hours.

This prolific event shattered all previous multi-day snowfall records in Erie dating to 1893, according to the National Weather Service office in Cleveland, including:

Two-day snowfall: 26.7 inches (Nov. 24-25, 1950; the "Great Appalachian Storm")
Three-day snowfall: 30.2 inches (Dec. 29-31, 2002)
Seven-day snowfall: 39.8 inches (Dec. 27, 2001 - Jan. 2, 2002)
13-day snowfall: 52.8 inches (Dec. 31, 1998 - Jan. 12, 1999)
That's not a misprint. Erie picked up more snow in less than 36 hours in this event than their previous 13-day snowstorm record.

Needless to say, the 99.5 inches of snow so far in December, through Tuesday, is the city's snowiest single month on record, crushing the previous record of 66.9 inches in December 1989.

This wasn't just a snowstorm record for the city, however.

According to the National Weather Service office in Cleveland, Erie also shattered the previous Pennsylvania state two-day snowstorm record of 44 inches set in Morgantown from March 20-21, 1958.

NWS Cleveland
✔
@NWSCLE
Erie, PA picked up 19" of new snow from midnight to 6 AM. This brings the storm total to 53" over the past 30 hours, shattering many records. This is the greatest 2-day total in the entire state of PA (prev. record 44" in Morgantown, PA 3/20-21/1958).

This northwest Pennsylvania city of just under 100,000 is used to heavy lake-effect snow, and is one of America's snowiest cities, averaging 101 inches of snow a year.

However, picking up roughly the average December and January snowfall - 57.1 inches - in just over a day is something long-time residents have never seen before.

Put another way, Erie picked up more snow in this event than the yearly average snowfall in the following cities:

Minneapolis/St. Paul: 53.4 inches
Boston: 43.5 inches
Chicago: 37.1 inches