Snow is an interesting thing. Some love it. Some hate it. But when there’s a major storm in the area, there’s the battle between getting a snow day and whether to play in it or dread removing it. If you live in the area and would like to share an image or story, feel free to post your memory at the end of the story.
The Mr. Local History Project went digging (figuratively) to shovel through records to see when the area experienced heavy snowfall in our local history. Then, we added the most historic sledding spots.
One of the interesting things we learned about recording snowfall totals is that it’s a bit arbitrary. Watch and learn how the National Weather Service measures snowfall.
The largest snow EVER actually occurred back on March 18, 1956, dumping a whopping 30 inches on the area. In the Somerset Hills area, the Somerset Hills Regional School District, which serves Bernardsville, Peapack-Gladstone, and Far Hills, the Bernards Township School District, and Bedminster Elementary School were all closed as a result.
The largest snow accumulation in recent memory was the 26 inches on January 23, 2016. That storm was the 3rd largest dumping recorded in the area.
Snowfall totals in Central Park were upped from 26.8 inches to 27.5 inches, making the 2016 storm on Jan. 22-23 the biggest blizzard to hit the city since recordkeeping began in 1869, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The record smashes the previous all-time mark of 26.9 inches set in February of 2006.
In Somerset County, the biggest one-day snowfall was on Jan. 23, 2016 when Basking Ridge got nearly three full feet or 30 inches of snow. That is tied for the state’s biggest one-day snowfall of 30 inches in Sussex on Jan. 26, 1905.
Basking Ridge Patch – January 24, 2016
Below are the NWS recorded snowstorm totals for our area:
We asked the public to highlight historic sledding, tubing, and tobogganing venues in the area. Here’s what we came up with. Tell us if you have a favorite.
If you live in the area and would like to share a story, feel free to post your memory below. The Mr. Local History Project is also looking for where the “official snow gathering sites” are in the area. If you know, we’d love to share. Click the Contact Us to upload a photo or two to send in.
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I often went sledding at Dead Man's Hill in Bernardsville but being it is private property and we had to ask permission sometimes it was easier to take the path of least resistance and go to the high school. There was a perfect sledding venue behind the cafeteria of Bernard's High that landed you on the lower playing field- not sure how much of it is left now that the additions have been built. It was fab because you went down a really steep hill and zoomed all the way across the field depending on the snow quality. We used to get in trouble for stealing the lunch trays and using them as make shift sleds when school was in session...
My grandfather, Samuel Allen (160 S. Finley Ave.), owned a pasture that went all the way downhill to S. Maple Ave. Anyone could come and enjoy sledding there. If a thick layer of ice covered the snow, a neighbor supplied a 4x8' piece of plywood, which we piled onto, and
slid down the hill, sometimes in circles. Fortunately there were no trees to run into!
WHO REMEMBERS THE ICE STORM OF NEW YEARs DAY, 1948, on top of the big snow a few days earlier. Power lines & trees fell everywhere. No power for almost 2 weeks. No school either!
The firehouse couldn't use the siren, so the Presbyterian Church bell was used to call volunteer firemen. It was very cold weather.