What would become to be known as the "April Fool's Day Blizzard" started on March 31st and ended April 1st, 1997. The storm dumped rain, sleet, and snow from as far south as Maryland and Delaware to as far north as Maine.
By the time meteorologists began following the storms, most hardware stores had put away their snow shovels for the year.
The storm started out as rain in the Ohio Valley but moved east off the coast of New Jersey where the storm strengthened. As the storm strengthened, the rain changed to a heavy snow. The storm then slowly moved north along the coast dumping feet of snow in some areas.
The Governor of Pennsylvania at the time, declared a state of emergency for eight counties in Northeast Pennsylvania. Some of those counties received up to 20 inches of snow.
The National Guard was also called in to aid during the emergency.
