"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: TUESDAY, March 20, 1984
HIGH, LOW TEMPERATURES SHOW WINTER'S WILD ROLLER COASTER RIDE
The Morning Call
The arrival of seed catalogs in mid-January hinted at it. The honking wedges of geese cutting through early March skies showed the light at the end of the tunnel. And at 5:25 a.m. today it ended - or began rate, winter 1983-84 is now part of the National Weather Service's book of statistics.
It was a season of extremes. Charles Giannetta, with the service at Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport, said Christmas Eve and Christmas Day registered among the coldest days with temperatures of -1 and -2 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds at 45 miles per hour put the wind chill factor at -60 to -70, making it even more frigid. The season's lowest temperature, -11, hit Jan. 22, but missed the record-breaking mark by a single degree, letting the -12 temperature set in 1961 stand another year.
Snowfall totaled 28.3 inches with the largest single accumulation of 6.3 inches falling March 8. While it was an inconvenience, it came nowhere near last year's total of 45.8 inches that included the heaviest snowfall in the valley's history, 25.2 inches that fell Feb. 11-12, 1983.
And even though winter is officially off the books, we're still not out of the woods. Gianetta said 3.7 inches of snow fell as late as April 19th, 1983, with a trace falling on April 25, 1983.
Temperatures were generally colder this winter, with the exception of February when temperatures averaged 7.4 degrees above the normal of 36.7. December and January, with average temperatures of 28.16 and 23, ran 2.7 and 4.2 degrees colder than normal temperatures for that time of year.
Winter's final hours, according to Giannetta, continued the colder trend. He said, ''Last March was considerbly warmer. Last year in March we had 62 degrees on the 15th and the high this year was 51 on the 16th.''
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"