Apr 5, 2019 By Jack Hughes 3 min read

Last Saturday, temperatures jumped up into the mid-70s across Southwestern Pennsylvania and it was enough to hear the sounds of the spring peepers singing from area ponds and waterways. Peepers are a small chorus frog found in ponds. Their calls are an indicator that winter cold is giving way to spring.

They breed from late March into early June and the sound you hear is that of the young males calling for a mate. Saturday evening held onto the mild air as temperatures remained in the 60s, but by morning, snow was falling across the area and much colder air had invaded. No Peepers could be heard as they decided to wait for a more opportune time to resume their mating calls.

In the mountains, we get our mail at the local post office and you get to chat with a lot of your neighbors when you pick up your mail. That same warm Saturday, my friend Bernie asked me if it was time to put away the snow blower for the season. I hesitated and reminded him that after last year’s mild winter, we experienced nine days in April with snow ranging from just a few flurries to several inches.

His question prompted a search of the records and I found that on April 5, 1994, we had a six-inch snowfall and 3 inches fell on April 13, 1932. According to Pittsburgh records, 13 inches accumulated on April 3, 1901. Numerous lighter snowfalls were also recorded on almost every April day over the years, most of which would not require the snow blower.

Long before there were snow blowers, the Uniontown Daily News Standard carried a front page headline dated April 28, 1928, that read “Storm paralyzes area; Traffic Demoralized by worst spring storm in generations”. The article went on to talk about power lines down throughout Fayette County with 5 to 20 inches of snow halting rail, trolley road and wire traffic. It would be days before things would return to normal. Eight inches of snow was recorded in Uniontown and 14 inches in Pittsburgh. Quoting George F. Titlow, from the Stone House Restaurant on Route 40 in the mountains, “Mountain travel ain’t and conditions across Chestnut Ridge are frightful. The Ohiopyle bus got stranded and it appears that traffic will be not move for days.”

Even in May snow can fall as evidenced by the 2 inches on May 1, 1963, and over 3 inches on May 9, 1966. The latest accumulating snow was half an inch on May 25, 1925.

We are expecting temperatures to return to the 70s this weekend and that should get the peepers out singing. As for the snow blower, perhaps one should keep it handy just in case.

Happy spring.