POTTSTOWN PA – “Bundle up,” Royersford PA weather maven Tom Thunstrom indicates, is the necessary phrase of the day.
Thunstrom, who for years has operated the often-quoted local website PhillyWeather.net, predicts the high temperature today (Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010) will reach only 28 degrees, and wind chills will make it seem like the bone-chilling teens.
Sunday’s (Dec. 12) weather was a comparative steam bath, because it was both far warmer and wetter. The storm system responsible for 17 inches of snow in Minneapolis MN, and causing the now famous collapse of the Metrodome roof, also dropped about an inch of rain west of Philadelphia, Thunstrom reported.
That caused the outfall from the dam at Lower Pottsgrove’s Pruss Hill Road pond (at left) to be heavier than usual. Water cascaded over the edge and splashed noisily down onto the rocks of Sanatoga Creek below.
If the cold keeps up, all that white water should turn to glistening ice in only a month or so.
This waterfall is scenic. The pond behind the dam however has so filled with sediment that it is very very shallow. Many years ago this little pond supplied much needed and used ice for the people in the area. It was the scene of much industry in the winter when ice was cut and hauled to a nearby building, packed in straw and sawdust. This ice served to cool food and provide consumable ice for many in the area. The pond was dredged and stirred up to allow sediment to pass beyond the dam rather than settle and silt up the pond.
As time has passed the silt has all but clogged it to the brim.
You have to admit it’s really a pretty place.