The "The Weather Outside Is Frightful" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Thursday, December 17, 2020 and the morning paper's headline told it all!  In what appears to be 72 point bold type, the headline can't be missed.  "COUNTY BLANKETED"!  The subhead read: "Snowfall tallies stayed on track with predictions in first storm of year." A large photograph, taken by staff photographer Chris Knight, shows a man using his snowblower in front of his home along Buchanan Avenue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

Our rear deck last evening after about 2 hours of snowfall 

By 7:00 PM last evening, 7.9 inches of snow had fallen in nearby Marietta, Pennsylvania while 4.1 inches had fallen in nearby Denver, PA.  By 10:30 last evening I was in my driveway with my snowblower trying to make a path from the garage door to the nearby street about 25 yards away.  Didn't take long since the snow was fluffy and in about a half hour I had cleared all the snow from the driveway as well as shoveled most from our rear deck.  We had ENOUGH snow for me, but certainly not any record like they said may happen with this storm.  Perhaps other parts of Pennsylvania may have set records, but certainly not my property.  As I continued reading the rest of the article on page 4, I saw another story listing the 10 worst snow storms in the history of Lancaster County.  And, what is astonishing is that I was around for each and everyone of them.  The #10 biggest snow was on January 16, 1945 when I was a year old.  Don't remember that one, but I do remember each and every other one that was listed.  There were three storms tied for 11th place with one of them falling in January of 1928.  Now, that one I wasn't around to see, believe it or not.  And, these records date back to 1798 when the first newspapers were on the stand in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Follow along as I show you the top ten (actually 11, since #10 was a tie) snowstorms in history in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click on images to enlarge them.

#1 - 30" on January 7-8, 1996

#2 - 26.7" on January 22-23, 2016

#3 - 24" on February 11-12, 1983

#4 - 24" on February 16-17, 2003

#5 - 24" on February 5-6, 2010

#6 - 20" on February 15-16, 1958
I realize the headline and the record don't seem
to match, but according to the newspaper...well...

#7 - 19" on February 9-10, 2010

#8 - 18" on March 13-14, 1993

#9 - 17.5" on March 20-21, 2018
Evidently the newspaper didn't have an edition on this day!

#10 - 17" (tie) on January 16, 1945

#10 - 17" (tie) on February 3-4, 1961
Same thing here...the record says 17", but the
newspaper headline said 12 inches.
And, we count on this for our news?