( January 2016) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Damages were estimated to reach US$1 billion. Philadelphia saw its worst flooding in twenty years. This resulted in flooding, when on January 19, a jet stream disturbance from the Gulf of Mexico caused a rapid melt, followed by thunderstorms, which both brought three inches (76 mm) of rain, and caused the snow to melt 20 inches (51 cm) in one day or equivalent to 2 inches (5 cm) of rain. Disposal of snow became a major issue but temperatures quickly returned to normal and began to quickly clear the snow. City officials had no choice but to resort to hauling the snow to nearby rivers. However the snow was so extensive, that plowing would cause massive snow piles. It is a rare occurrence for trucks to "dispose of snow" in the Philadelphia area, since the snowfall amounts typically do not warrant it. The mayor declared a state of emergency, and only police and other emergency workers were permitted to drive on city streets leaving the city to pedestrians.įor three days, city trucks loaded with plowed snow dumped their contents into the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers eventually causing major problems with the natural flow of the rivers. Most of those 30.7 inches (78 cm), 27.6 (70), fell in just 24 hours, a new record for the city for the most snow in 24 hours. It remains the city's all-time greatest snowstorm, compared to its previous greatest snowstorm which was a "mere" 21.3 inches (54 cm). Philadelphia and Pennsylvania ģ0.7 inches (78 cm) of snow fell in Philadelphia (as measured at the official city observation location, Philadelphia International Airport), the most of any major city in the storm's path. Because of unseasonably warm weather in mid-January and a warm rain exceeding an inch (2.5 cm) on Monday, January 15, the snow melted quickly and caused the worst winter flooding in decades for river and stream valleys from Southwest Virginia to New York. In DC, it was known as the "Blizzard of '96" or the "Great Furlough Storm," because it occurred just after the 1996 federal government shutdown and since the Federal government was closed due to the storm, lengthened the time federal employees were away from their jobs in the DC area. Many areas north and west in Maryland and West Virginia received well over 2 feet (61 cm) with a few locations in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia receiving up to 4 feet (1.2 m). Baltimore received 22.5 inches (57 cm) and Washington Dulles International Airport received 24.6 inches (62 cm). These bands created whiteout conditions as winds gusted past 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), along with thunder and lightning.īy the morning of January 8, the bands tapered off, and the metro area was left with a blanket of 15 to 25 inches (38 to 64 cm) of snow. But overnight, as the storm slowly crawled northward, extremely heavy bands of snow came in from the east. At that time, the metro area received 13 to 17 inches (33 to 43 cm), and after a few hours of sleet and then a complete stop for several hours, it seemed the worst was over. and Baltimore during the early afternoon of January 6, and continued at a consistent rate until mid-afternoon the next day. Picture taken of the aftermath of a Washington Metro accident at Shady Grove station during the blizzard, which resulted in the death of a Metro operator.
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