It's officially a whopper.
A winter storm that looked like it would spare the Lehigh Valley its greatest wrath just a day earlier has turned into a record-breaker.
By 7 p.m. Saturday, the storm had dumped 31.7 inches at Lehigh Valley International Airport since Friday night, smashing the record of 25.6 inches over a two-day event, set during the blizzard of January 1996.
It was a record-breaking weather event and a record for a single day of snowfall.
Saturday alone, the airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, recorded 30 inches of snow. The previous one-day record storm came on Feb. 11, 1983, when 24 inches fell.
And, of course, it was a record for the date. The old record for Jan. 23 was 7.7 inches, set in 1966.
The region had creeped into historic territory by early Saturday afternoon. LVIA had reported 21 inches by 1 p.m. Saturday, and that was before heavy snow fell at clips of 2 and 3 inches per hour.
Another staggering statistic, according to the National Weather Service:
The normal seasonal snowfall for the Allentown area is 32.9 inches. This winter storm produced close to that in 24 hours.
Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.