【1981 Archives】

Get those shovels out981 Archives Pennsylvanians.

The city of Erie is operating under a "snow emergency" declaration in the wake of a storm that kicked off shortly after 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve. As of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 26, total accumulation had reached 56.5 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

It's the state's largest-ever snowfall over a two-day period. Data from the NWS puts Erie's Christmas 2017 accumulation ahead of a 1958 storm in Morgantown, which saw 44 inches pile up over the same period.

CARD ID: 307064

The Erie snowfall also knocks out Pennsylvania's 13-day total snowfall record. The previous record, set in early 1999 (technically, the timeframe started on Dec. 31, 1998), was 52.8 inches.

Let that sink in for a moment. Erie saw more snow pile up over a two day period than any other location in the state of Pennsylvania had seen previously during a 13-day period.

It was a lotof snow.

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The high level of accumulation is a product of lake-effect snow. When frigid, dry Arctic air blows across the warmer and unfrozen Great Lakes, the resulting moisture in the air forms long, thin bands of intense snow.

The resulting thick and powdery snow falls in downwind areas, and the storms that deliver it can be quite intense. Sometimes, they'll even produce lightning and thunder -- resulting in the rare, wonderfully named weather event known as "thundersnow."

As you might imagine, with so much snow falling in Erie, Pennsylvanians were out in force to document the historic event on social media.

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