Lincoln Park Weather Bureau -- Berks County, PA -- lpwbpa.com
Lincoln Park Weather Bureau -- Berks County, PA -- lpwbpa.com
Wednesday-Friday June 21-23, 1972: Post-tropical Storm Agnes
The heavy rains delivered by storm Agnes over several days has become the benchmark of main-stem river flooding through most of Pennsylvania, including the Schuylkill River at Reading. At Lincoln Park, the “whale’s share” of the rain came first as torrential thunderstorm downpours evening of 21 June and then as steady moderately heavy rain through the daylight of 22 June. Galvanized tubs, initially empty with capacity of approximately 10 inches, left exposed at a local construction project during these rains, were filled to the brims by Thursday evening. Mainly light rains fell occasionally for two more days. The six days prior to the Agnes rains brought a few heavy showers. These pre-Agnes rains plus the rains directly attributed to Agnes totaled 12.01”, including 8.0 in 24 hours at the NWS-sponsored co-op, Reading 3 N. Lincoln Park might have received about 2” more than that. Basement flooding was widespread and ranged from minor to severe, depending on the lowness of the houses.
Hurricane Agnes - Berks County's Worst Natural Disaster
Courtesy and Credit: Berks Nostalgia
After a very warm March day (max temp 78, rainfall 0.21" at Reading 3 N), a fast-moving thunderstorm tore through Lincoln Park from the W and inflicted a short, narrow path of wind damage (1/2 mile long, 100' wide) from W to E and included the LPWB property.
A severe thunderstorm ripped through the Reading PA area from the WNW during mid-afternoon with accumulating hail, washouts, and flooding over northern suburbs within a half hour (1.78" rain at Reading 3 N). The storm inflicted a path of wind damage, some rotary, in Lincoln Park, very similar to the March 1976 storm, including a hit of the LPWB property. The next house to the NW took the brunt, where a sheet-metal shed, located 20 meters N of the present LPWB rain gauge, was lifted from its base, twirled around a spruce tree, and wrapped around a utility pole in a direction perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction. See picture. Unfortunately, the print discolored over time making resolution of detail difficult.
Neither of the above damages was investigated by the NWS, so no tornado was confirmed. If any tornado really did occur, it would likely have been an F0/EF0.
Below are pictures of the aftermath of the great snowstorm of 7-8 January 1996, which deposited 32" of snow on LPWB, on top of 4" of preexisting snow pack. LPWB billed this event "snowstorm of the century" at the time, and that attribution still seems appropriate. The snow fell heavily, with near blizzard conditions at times, nearly continuously from well before dawn of Sunday 7 January till noon of Monday 8 January. Sleet mixed in briefly. Total rainfall equivalent was 3.16" to yield a typical 10 to 1 melt ratio. An encore disturbance delivered an additional 3.9" from late Tuesday the 9th into morning of the 10th. Then another nor'easter, much weaker, brought another 8.1" of snow. sleet and some glaze ice during Friday 12 January. The second half of this January turned much different with frequently mild temperatures and a few moderate to heavy rainfalls which resulted in rapid melting and significant flooding. Average ground coverage was reduced drastically to 2" of snow/ice by 30 January.
Many other historical weather events could have been detailed above. If you reside(d) in or near Lincoln Park now or decades ago and recall weather in Lincoln Park that is memorable, you may nominate such event(s) for possible mention in this section
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