The whitest Christmas: Records, memories remain from Erie's great 2017 snowfall
Those dreaming of a white Christmas in Erie (in 2017) ago got their wish granted in spades — or snow shovels, to be more accurate.
Snowflakes that began falling on the city after nightfall on Christmas Eve 2017 continued at a torrential pace overnight, through Christmas Day and Dec. 26 and into Dec. 27. By the time the blizzard eased, nearly 50 inches of snow had fallen at the Erie International Airport, with even higher numbers reported in some parts of the region, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
"Snowmageddon," some would call it.
Whatever it was, the winter blast of Christmas 2017 brought with it a lot more than amounts of snow that were measured in feet.
It shut down the airport, forced traffic restrictions on area interstates and some local roadways, and left numerous side streets impassible.
It gave headaches to homeowners with buried cars and sidewalks and to crews responsible for clearing streets, digging out and towing swamped vehicles, and responding to emergency calls.
It attracted aid from outside groups, including the Pennsylvania National Guard, the Civil Air Patrol and the nonprofit disaster response group Team Rubicon, to help Erie shovel out.
It left behind snow mounds that continued to melt well into May.
And when it was over, it set records that still stand, and made memories that still linger.
More: Record snow adds magic to Erie couple's wedding day
A Christmas to remember
The Christmas 2017 storm was the result of a synoptic system moving across the Upper Ohio Valley, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
It started with a quick low-pressure system that moved through the region on Christmas Eve evening, with much of the area receiving a few inches of snow that evening and into the early morning of Christmas Day, said Zach Sefcovic, a meteorologist with NWS Cleveland.
"After that system moved out of the region for Christmas Day, the colder air behind the system came into the region and allowed significant lake-effect snow to occur over Lake Erie. The wind direction over Lake Erie was favorable, where snow occurred over Erie for several days and produced several feet of snow," Sefcovic said.
He said the conditions were similar to what Buffalo and surrounding areas in western New York experienced in November.
Unofficial snowfall totals from that storm, which began Nov. 16 and continued through Nov. 20, included 81.2 inches measured west of Hamburg and 80 inches near Orchard Park, according to information on NWS Buffalo's website.
Erie received 21.9 inches of snow during that five-day weather event last month, according to unofficial numbers on NWS Cleveland's website.
Back in December 2017, a total of 21 inches was measured at the Erie International Airport, the weather service's official measuring station in Erie, on Christmas Day. Another 22 inches fell on Dec. 26, followed by an additional 5.1 inches on Dec. 27, when the winds finally began to shift, the agency later reported.
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Emergency management officials in Erie County were warned in the days before Christmas that the region was expected to get a significant amount of snow. But the predictions fell short of what the Erie area actually received, said Dale Robinson, the county's emergency management coordinator.
The first word of any problems related to the heavy snow occurred on the early morning of Dec. 26, 2017, when the county was informed that there were stranded motorists on Route 5 in western Erie County, Robinson said. County officials began activating its emergency response team, and as Robinson prepared to head for work he said he opened the door to his house and was stopped in his tracks by the amount of snow he faced.
"It was definitely well past the knee, so I called in and said it was going to be a delayed response," he said.
The good news was that the Pennsylvania State Police managed to free all of the stuck motorists on Route 5, so the emergency response was canceled.
"We told the EMA staff to shovel out so they could get out and report to the (emergency operations center). I took a ride around to see how bad things were. They were saying 5 feet at the time. It was bad, but I wasn't seeing 5 feet of snow," Robinson said. "When I went to the EOC, there really were no unmet needs at the time. But we knew we were going to start having issues."
Digging out
Those issues started the day after Christmas, and continued well past New Year's Day.
The Erie International Airport shut down at 10 p.m. on Christmas Day because of heavy snow and poor visibility. It wouldn't reopen until noon on Dec. 27.
Erie and Millcreek Township declared snow emergencies on Dec. 26 because of dangerous and impassable roads. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reduced speeds and placed vehicle restrictions on local interstates. Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper signed a declaration of disaster emergency to bring in some resources from the Pennsylvania National Guard.
What helped, said Robinson and others, was that school was not in session and many people were off work for the holidays, which limited the traffic volume on local roadways. But those who were out found it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to negotiate a number of local roads.
More: A break in the flakes
The Erie Bureau of Fire used some of its fire trucks, as well as a plow-mounted truck used by the bureau's mechanics, to cut a path down some snow-clogged Erie streets for ambulances and other emergency vehicles, said Erie Fire Chief Joe Walko, who was the bureau's assistant chief at the time. Bureau officials also went around and picked up firefighters who lived in the city to get them to work if they were unable to get there on their own, Walko said.
"We did double shifts for at least two days, just in case," Walko said. "If we would have had a call-back, it would have been hard as heck to get people to the fire station. Thankfully, we didn't have any big fires."
The National Guard brought in a Humvee ambulance to help EmergyCare and the Millcreek Paramedic Service reach patients on streets that their ambulances couldn't enter, and they brought several other Humvees to use in picking up and transporting medical personnel to hospitals, Robinson said.
The Pennsylvania State Police worked hand in hand with the National Guard, who were stationed at the police agency's Erie and Girard barracks and the Erie County 911 center, and directed them to hospital staff who were in need of transportation, said state police Troop E commander Capt. Kirk Reese, who was the troop's patrol section supervisor at the time.
"The other main issue we had was buses getting stuck. When a bus gets stuck you have to get the people off and get transportation to get them to hotels," Reese said.
Passengers aboard a Greyhound bus that broke down and lost power at the junction of Interstates 90 and 79 on the early evening of Dec. 26 were taken by two volunteer fire departments to the Perry Hi-Way Hose Co., where they remained until a replacement bus arrived early the next morning.
PennDOT sent additional plow trucks from neighboring counties to help clear the interstates and other state-maintained roads as municipal plow crews in Erie, Millcreek and other communities worked extended shifts to clear main routes and open up side streets.
Hundreds of vehicles were towed from side streets in and around Erie at the direction of police to allow plow crews access to those streets.
Some of the main roads in and around the city became so compacted with snow from the constant plowing that ruts and waves formed in them. State and local crews brought in road graders to break up the compacted snow and ice.
While officials dealt with transportation and emergency response issues, residents of Erie and surrounding areas dealt with the challenge of clearing feet of snow from their homes and vehicles.
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The United Way's 211 call center was flooded with calls from residents who needed assistance in clearing snow. Helping to answer those calls were members of Team Rubicon, a military veteran-led disaster relief organization; and the Indiana, Pennsylvania-based Civil Air Patrol Air Force Auxiliary.
Dozens of members of both organizations came to Erie and spent days digging out cars and shoveling out sidewalks and driveways before heading home in early January.
More: Volunteer disaster relief crew aids in storm cleanup
"We just knew we were going to have elderly people, people with disabilities, who no way could or should go out there and try to shovel that much snow," Robinson said. "They came in and did a stellar job."
A tumbling of records
December 2017 would end in Erie with an official monthly snowfall count of 93.8 inches, breaking the record by nearly 27 inches.
Incidentally, the month, which also featured periods of above-freezing temperatures, would also finish as the wettest December on record in Erie, with 7.55 inches of precipitation measured. That bested December 2008, which had 7.36 inches of precipitation, according to the weather service.
More records would fall as the season progressed and more snow fell.
The 128.9 inches of snow measured at the Erie International Airport between December 2017 and February 2018, a three-month stretch the weather service considers the "winter season," was good for first place on Erie's all-time snowiest winter seasons. It beat the record-holder, December 1977-February 1978, by nearly 3 inches.
More: Seasonal snow record in sight
An additional 36.9 inches of snow fell in Erie in March through May 2018 during the weather service's "spring season," making that season Erie's snowiest on record by 2 inches over the record spring of 2005, according to weather service data.
Erie's annual snow season for 2017-2018 ended with 166.3 inches, according to weather service data. That was well over a foot above what was measured during the previous seasonal snowfall record-holder, the fall-winter-spring of 2000-01.
A closer inspection of questionable numbers
But things got weird before those official numbers were set.
Erie appeared to be closing in on a 200-inch snowfall season as the cold-weather months ticked by in early 2018. That's because the original snowfall totals at the airport were reported at 50.8 inches between Dec. 25 at 7 a.m. and Dec. 26 at 7 a.m., and Erie's December monthly total was originally reported at 120.9 inches.
Because those two figures would have broken established state records, and would have pushed Erie's seasonal snowfall total to 198.5 inches, a committee was formed under a weather service directive to take a closer look at the numbers and how they were obtained.
Erie residents would wait months before the committee announced in late August 2018 that it was adjusting Erie's "official" snow totals.
The Christmas storm total dropped from 50.8 inches to 32.6 inches. The December 2017 snow total fell from 120.9 inches to 93.8 inches. And the seasonal snowfall total was reduced from 198.5 inches to 166.3 inches.
166.3 inches*: Review committee determines city didn't get as much snow as was originally reported.
With any extreme weather event that occurs nationally, there is always going to be the question of whether a record event such as heavy snowfall is a record, Sefcovic said. That leads to questions about how the measurements were taken, where they were taken, and whether things like snow drifts or the proximity of buildings to a measuring spot played a role, he said.
"In higher events, including Buffalo, there are teams that come in and analyze the situation to see if the numbers can stand, as a record for any significant weather event, whether it's snow, heavy rain, hail, anything we can measure," said Sefcovic, who served on the team that studied Erie's 2017-18 snowfall incidents.
What the committee determined, based on a statement they released following the review, was that there was a large discrepancy between new snowfall and snow depth reports among several dates.
"During that time, 50.8 inches of snow reportedly fell but only a maximum snow depth of 28 inches was reported," officials announced in the statement.
Officials also wrote that, in interviewing snow observers, the snow measurement board was not always placed on top of the snowpack after a measurement was made, although there was higher snow around the board, allowing for a cratering effect.
Officials additionally pointed out that the airport's snow observers were new for the 2017-18 winter season.
After invalidating the data, the committee formed a new group to determine what snowfall totals should be used for December 2017. They ultimately went with the observations of a nearby snow spotter with years of experience, and they also made some adjustments to the snowfall amounts reported in March 2018.
Sefcovic said he understands that some were likely disappointed by having Erie's snowfall totals reduced.
"That was a significant snowy season in 2017 into 2018, and we had several significant snowstorms even into late March adding to the total. When the whole process ended and we ended up taking the numbers down, I know that certainly caused some hardship," he said.
Lessons learned from historic snowfall
Weather service officials said before the start of the 2018-19 winter season that they had taken steps to review snow-collecting guidelines to ensure accurate measurement practices. Standard guidelines for snow collecting were reviewed, and an emphasis was placed on precipitation measurements at all climate sites, the agency reported.
Spotters at the Erie International Airport were also given rain gauges to help support snow measurements.
More: Costs, like snow, piled up
Robinson said the historic snowstorm of Christmas 2017 showed that good cooperation exists between the various agencies that responded to the many incidents.
"That's the good thing, I think, about living in Erie. When the chips are down, we always come together to get stuff done," he said.
Robinson said he and others also learned that Erie residents are always at the mercy of lake effect snow, as it can be difficult to determine how much snow is going to fall.
"The lesson we learned is to try and get people in as soon as you can," he said of county's emergency management staff. "We have to be able to practice what we preach and make sure that we are ready."
"But I don't know if anyone could have been ready for that," Robinson added.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: 5 years later, Erie reflects on record Christmas snow, winter season
