Pocono News Section

The Valentine's Day 2007 Storm

The Valentine's Day 2007 Storm - Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 5:32PM EST

Reported by: Meteorologist Dave Skutnik
Thursday, Feb 14, 2008 @05:32pm EST
It was 1 year ago this Valentine's Day that arguably the most infamous and certainly the most talked about snowstorm ever hit our region.

It started with snow and sleet on the eve of Valentine's Day and by the time it ended late on the afternoon of the 14th, some places had picked up nearly 2 feet of snow with a thick layer of ice (from sleet) in the middle of it. That made the mixture like cement to try and move.

Truckers from across the country got stuck on our interstates in the deep snow and ice. The worst of the storm hit in the early to mid afternoon hours, and as area workers scrambled to get home, they got stuck on the highways creating monumental traffic jams. PennDOT plows also got stuck and the cycle began. With no plows the snow got deeper, and the traffic jams got bigger.

By the time the snow ended, miles of interstate were jammed with disabled vehicles that had to be towed out of the way, a process that would take days. In fact, I-81 from lower Luzerne County through Schuylkill County was closed for four days!

It certainly was a storm that will be remembered for a long, long time.