Allentown hardware store remembers 1993 blizzard, 30 years later
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Monday marks thirty years since the blizzard of 1993 – dubbed by meteorologists as "The Storm of the Century" in the '90s – debilitated much of the Delaware Valley.
"It was the saving grace we had the snow because we sold a lot of snow throwers and we sold a lot of salt," Kenneth Ringer said. The president of Albright's Hardware and Garden Center in Allentown said his first winter season owning the storm ended with the blizzard.
"We were trying to fix snow throwers and get peoples equipment done. It was hard to get around and everything was closed up," longtime employee Kenneth Yons said.
The storm dumped 17.6 inches of snow between March 13 and 14, 12 inches of snow over those two days in Philadelphia, according to the National Weather Service, Philadelphia and Mt. Holly office.
Fast-forward to 2023, and the hardware store changed over to springtime essentials on the shelves in March and left only a few shovels out.
"We were down for January and February and December. It would be a lot better if the weather was the way it was supposed to be," Ringer said.
While the current mid-March storms certainly are not like the one we saw 30 years ago, experts CBS News Philadelphia asked agree -- do not throw away the snow shovels just yet.
"In the Delaware valley on average since 1970, the winter temperature has on average risen by about 5.4-5.5 degrees. That may not seem like a lot but it actually is and can play a huge difference in not only if it's going to be snow, if it's going to be rain but also what kind of snow," CBS News Philadelphia meteorologist Andrew Kozak said.
He shares taking a closer look at changes in the climate is the key to finding out the "why" this all may be happening.
"Just because the last couple of seasons have been a little less on the big snowstorm scale it doesn't mean that next season isn't going to continue that trend," Kozak said.