1774: 4" of snow falls in Germantown, Philadelphia

1774: 4" of snow falls in Germantown, Philadelphia

Author: AccuWeather May 4, 2022 Duration: 1:37
The neighborhood of Germantown in Philadelphia sits at a higher elevation than most of the rest of the city. From 250-300 feet above sea level the temperature can average a degree or two colder than the city below. During weather situations that are borderline between rain and snow, often times much of the City of Philadelphia will have a slushy mixture of rain and snow, while only wet snow falls in Germantown and its adjacent elevated neighborhood of Chestnut Hill; sometimes depositing a couple inches of snow. On May 4, 1774 Germantown was a not part of the City of Philadelphia yet, it was a prosperous town of hundreds living in long established stone houses. Germantown was founded in 1683 and awaited its fate as the location of one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War in 1777. But on May 4, 1774 as a strong storm surged up the Atlantic seaboard, temperatures held just near freezing, and while rain fell in the City of Philadelphia below 4” of heavy wet snow blanketed Germantown in one of the latest snowfalls on record in the region, before or since.

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Every day has a story written in the wind and rain, and This Date in Weather History uncovers those narratives. With AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Myers as your guide, this daily podcast connects the present to pivotal moments where weather dramatically altered the course of events. You might hear about a forgotten blizzard that stranded a city, a hurricane that redirected a war, or a simple shift in the breeze that allowed a historic discovery. It’s more than just a list of facts; it’s a look at how the atmosphere has been a relentless and fascinating character in the human drama. Each brief episode offers a specific, grounded tale, revealing how the climate has shaped cultures, economies, and personal lives in ways we often overlook. Tune in for a thoughtful blend of meteorology and historical context, delivered with the authority of AccuWeather. This podcast turns the calendar into a map of atmospheric intrigue, reminding us that the past is always present in the sky above.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

This Date in Weather History
Podcast Episodes
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Duration: 2:14
What started out as just another day in June in Colorado in 1921, rapidly turned into one that would never be forgotten in the town of Pueblo, Colorado. A cloudburst enveloped the town the afternoon of June 3, 1921. Duri…
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Duration: 1:12
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Duration: 1:44
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1889: The Johnstown Flood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:06
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, lies hard against the Conemaugh River in its deep valley in the western part of the state. Founded in 1770, it grew quickly as the Civil War approached, fortunes were made in iron, coal and steel…
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Duration: 2:13
On May 30, 1879 the town of Irving, Kansas in the northeastern part of the state was a growing farm community with several hundred residents. Today, though Irving is a ghost town. On May 30, 1879, two tornados destroyed…
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Duration: 3:08
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Duration: 2:24
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2008: "Pneumonia Front" causes big temperature drops in Chicago [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:59
The term Pneumonia front, first coined by Milwaukee Weather Bureau Office in the 1960s, is used to describe a rare meteorological phenomenon observed on the western Lake Michigan shoreline during the warm season. These f…
1987: A fisherman is struck and killed by lightning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:51
The number of people killed by lightning in recent years is a far cry from annual lightning deaths decades ago. In the 1940s, for instance, hundreds of people were killed each year by lightning. In 1943 alone, 432 people…