Historical Weather

Post-Tropical Storm Agnes; Historic Flooding

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

Agnes at Large

Has a tornado ever struck LPWB?

Sunday 21 March 1976

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.

Saturday 11 April 1981

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.

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Nor'easter Snowstorm, 7-8 January 1996

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 dense 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.

Nor'easter at Large

"Storm of the (20th) Century" - 12-14 March 1993

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The so-called "Storm of the Century", billed as the most impactful and disruptive winter storm to strike the eastern USA during the 20th Century, hit toward mid-March 1993. Read articles about this superstorm at large:

* Wikipedia * NWS State College * NOAA/NCEI

"Storm of the Century" at LPWB

Weather forecasts by NWS, AccuWeather, TWC, etc, were advertising the potential for a huge and very disruptive winter storm during the week preceding Saturday 13 March, the day the storm hit. By Friday, forecasts had come to a certainty of a highly impactful storm of 1 to 2 feet of snow with blizzard conditions at times. Snow began during wee hours of 13 March and quickly became heavy at times accumulating nearly a foot with considerable blowing and drifting by early afternoon, when it mixed with and changed to sleet with some freezing rain and a few rumbles of thunder before changing back to snow then tapering during the evening. By midnight, 14.0" of snow and sleet had accumulated. Leftover flurries brought an additional 0.1" before dawn of Sunday 14 March. Rainfall equivalent of all precipitation of 2.15" suggested accumulation would have been nearly 2 feet if only snow had fallen. Temperatures fell into the 20s during the storm. Minimum barometer, adjusted to sea level, of 28.54 in*Hg became new record low barometric pressure for the Reading area and stood until 28.32 in*Hg during Superstorm Sandy of late October 2012. Those forecasts, even from five days in advance, proved very accurate. Total reported snow/sleet accumulations in Berks County ranged from 12 to 25 inches, though some were likely tainted by drifting. The official amount for Reading (4 NNW) was 18 inches. Much below normal temperatures, including date record lows, during the week following slowed melting so that it took till 23 March for grounds to become mostly snow free.

LPWB Historical Weather