Allentown sets snow record with 31.9 inches during Blizzard of 2016
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- The Lehigh Valley became Mother Nature's bullseye Saturday, and on Sunday residents woke up to the glistening piles of snow - 31.9 inches to be exact.
In Allentown, the snowfall total set a new record, with 30.2 inches falling on Saturday alone.
On Hamilton Boulevard you could find cars abandoned in the height of the storm.
After plows came through on already narrow streets there wasn't a lot of places for the snow to go and many cars remained covered.
The mayor responded to residents on Twitter, asking for patience and telling them the city received a season of snow - an average of 32.9 inches - in one day.
According to the National Weather Service, the previous one-day snowfall record was 24 inches on Feb. 11, 1983. The previous record two-day snowfall total was 25.6 inches set on Jan. 7 and 8, 1996.
The most snow that fell on the date of Jan. 23, prior to this storm, in Allentown was 7.7 inches back in 1966.
In Salisbury Township, residents couldn't drive or even walk down some streets. Inca the dog had to get carried to her walk.
"She's disoriented, she doesn't know where to go. It's not natural for her," said Gary Pyle of Salisbury Township.
Neighbors helped each other dig out lending a hand with shovels and snowblowers.
"It was crazy. We were out all day yesterday too trying to clear the driveway," said Christine Reighn, adding they didn't even try to keep up with all the snow falling.
Over in South Whitehall Township, Stephen Longenmiller and his 12-man crew used massive equipment in their clean up meant for an epic snowfall.
"We've been here since 10 Friday night so til we're said and done, we'll probably have 60-70 hours in total," said Longenmiller.
With so many in a hurry to dig out, it's nice that we have kids and pets to remind us to take a minute to enjoy it.
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Official weather records for Allentown date back to 1922.
