Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, December 13 to 14, 1996

A slow moving low pressure system moved from Williamsburg, Virginia the morning of the 13th to about 100 miles southeast of Atlantic City the morning of the 14th and then drifted southeast to about 300 miles southeast of Atlantic City the morning of the 15th. A prolonged period of rain and snow fell across the area. As precipitation increased in intensity, it changed over to heavy snow during the evening of the 13th and lasted through the morning of the 14th. Accumulations were as high as six inches in Carbon County and ranged from three inches in the valleys to close to a foot over the higher terrain in Monroe County.Once again Monroe County was hit the hardest as heavy wet snow took down trees and power lines. About 6,000 Pennsylvania Power and Light customers lost power in Brodheadsville, Henryville, Lake Naomi and Stroudsburg. About 5,000 General Public Utilities customers lost power in Cherry Valley, Delaware Water Gap, Saylorsburg, Stroud Township and Syndersville. Full power was not restored until the 15th. Many homes were covered with fallen limbs and a fallen tree destroyed one garage in Shawnee. Downed trees blocked roads including West Main Street in Stroudsburg, U.S. Route 209 in Smithfield Township and Pennsylvania State Route 191 near Cherry Hill.Snowfall accumulations included 11 inches in Long Pond, 7 inches in Saylorsburg, 5 inches in Jundale and 3.5 inches in Stroudsburg. The combination of snow and rain dropped about two to 3.5 inches of precipitation over a 48 hour period in the area. Precipitation totals included 3.32 inches in East Stroudsburg and 1.91 inches in Jundale. To date Stroudsburg broke its all-time yearly precipitation record amassing 68.03 inches so far in 1996. The previous record was 65.83 inches.