Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, February 23 to 24, 1998

A powerful storm system moved from the Tennessee Valley to the Delmarva coast. Once there, the storm intensified rapidly as it only gradually moved further offshore. The combination of cold air in place, a deep easterly flow of Atlantic moisture, and intense upper level energy produced widespread heavy snow across northeastern Pennsylvania. Snow began falling during the evening hours of the 23rd. It quickly became heavy as it persisted through the day on the 24th, not tapering off until that evening. A relatively narrow band of very heavy snow set up early in the morning on the 24th from northern sections of Wyoming county and eastern portions of Bradford county through most of Susquehanna county. By the time the storm wound down that evening, snowfall tallies of 18 to 28 inches were common in this corridor. Brackney in central Susquehanna county recorded the highest official total with 27.5 inches. The heavy wet nature of the snow also brought down numerous power lines that resulted in widespread outages. In some more isolated locations, power was not restored for 3 to 4 days. From the Wilkes-Barre Scranton metropolitan area eastward across the Poconos, somewhat lesser amounts of 4 to 12 inches were recorded. Several hours of sleet and freezing rain mixed in across these locations, helping to keep snowfall accumulations down. The higher elevations in this region saw amounts approaching a foot. This included such places as Mountaintop, Back Mountain, and Bear Creek in Luzerne county as well as Elmhurst in Lackawanna county and Pleasant Mount in Wayne county.