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Grade your winter


BullCityWx

Grade the 2014/2015 winter  

103 members have voted

  1. 1. How was your winter



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I gave it a C.  The only thing that saved it from being an F was the 3" we got from that storm last week.

 

Regarding short term forecasting, it has underperformed vs. forecasts all winter.  I don't blame the mets trying to interpret the models.  I think the real problem is that we aren't nearly good enough at building models yet.  

 

Regarding expectations and long range forecasting, let's just say I have learned (again) that analogs and statistics really don't mean jack squat, the weather is going to do what it's going to do and every single day is its own special snowflake.  Just because XYZ followed ABC the last 3 times ABC happened doesn't mean a thing.  Correlation is not causation.  So in future I will be giving all these kinds of posts and long range forecast articles the exact same level of faith I give the Farmer's Almanac and the fortuneteller lady down the road. :)

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I gave it a C.  We had 3 events here in the upstate if you don't count the November snow, which was mostly Piedmont/Midlands.  We had 7 mornings in the teens and about 3" total of ice/snow, which is a little below climatological for this area.  Not a great winter but not horrible either.  Had some fun events to track.  Board provided some good entertainment and on a rare occasion, even some useful information (LOL).  We have now gone 22 years( March 1993 Super Storm) since an 8" or greater snowfall.  That's the longest stretch in my 50 years.  We are overdue. 

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27 votes and 12 of them are B- or higher. I guess we know where most of the votes are coming from. Where are all the Georgia posters ? We need more F's and D's. We can't let the NC voters skew the voting.

I got my F in there. My winters are All or nothing. If I get 1 wintry pellet, A+ winter.
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As painful as this winter was up until the last few weeks, I don't see anyway I can give it anything but an A.  Got 5+ inches of snow, and ice that covered the ground enough to sled in.  Also the big one stayed on the ground for many days.  Took several trips 30 minutes North and up to 3k ft elevation, and saw even more snow.

 

I hate it for those closer in to ATL, but, I moved up this way for a reason, and I cashed in this year.

 

I'll save my A+ for when I get the big 2 foot dumping that I know is coming, so I can relive that great Feb 73 snow in middle GA.

 

I was certainly spoiled as a kid in the 70s and early 80s and didn't know it.  18 inch snows, my dawgs winning the Nat Championship, Triple crown winners every few years in the 70s.  These are just a few things that happened as a kid and not since and I wonder if it ever will. 

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If winter were to end today (which it doesn't), I think I would grade this winter out at a C+ (but apparently that's not an option).  Snow totals have been below average so far at only 5ish inches of snow/sleet accumulation, yet we have had two decent events IMBY.  The first was the 1.5 inches of solid sleet that made for fantastic sledding and hung around for quite a while.  The second was the 3.5 inches of snow that had such potential to be so much greater, yet it was gone within a day or two and didn't have nearly the sledding conditions of the sleetstorm.  In addition, we had several nights in the single digits (like last year) which made it really feel like winter.

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You do realize you do not have realistic expectations in comparison to your climatology, right?

umm, I dont think its too much to ask to at least get a dusting of snow. Heck, Dallas has had like 5 winter storms this year and Atlanta averages more snow than them. I dont think its too much to expect a dusting of snow in a winter with so much cold around. Is Atlanta the only major city in the US that got 0% of its annual snow/sleet this winter ? Obviously next winter can only be better.
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umm, I dont think its too much to ask to at least get a dusting of snow. Heck, Dallas has had like 5 winter storms this year and Atlanta averages more snow than them. I dont think its too much to expect a dusting of snow in a winter with so much cold around. Is Atlanta the only major city in the US that got 0% of its annual snow/sleet this winter ? Obviously next winter can only be better.

 

Miami and Honolulu got 0% of their annual snow/sleet this winter.  (Of course, they also got 100% of their annual snow/sleet as well.)

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B+/A-

 

I base this on the fact I saw snow fall here on 5 separate occasions. Although there were only 2 minor accumulations and the rest being just flakes in the air, that is significantly more times than usual here. Plus one of those times was snow on freaking november 1st, the earliest i have ever seen snow here. Plus seeing snow on back to back days from two different systems which is unheard of here as well.

 

I know overall That's a mighty low standard yes but Keep in mind i went 5 or 6 years without seeing a flake back in the  2000s...seeing any snow at all here on any given year is considered a win lol. Plus I did manage to get to see monster flakes and a couple of inches of snow/sleet up there in hall county with the last system. Also had a minor freezing rain event plus the major ice storm which produced the worst tree damage i've seen maybe ever. It also produced one of, if not the worst, model busts i've ever seen with an ice storm which made it a lot of fun.  Which i have to say I did a little better than the models on that one. Which is a good thing since i hated the way the last snow event turned out vs what i expected could happen.  There were also several respectable cold shots this year.

 

So I can't really complain because some years i haven't even sniffed a flake, ice pellet, or freezing rain drop.. yet 7 times i believe this year i've had wintery precip.

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I'm going with B+.  I had above average snow at 5.5", a bunch of nights in the teens, and a single digit night.  December was +3.4, January was -1.5, and February was -7.6.  Taken as a whole it seemed like a boring winter just because I had to wait so long for snow.  The monthly averages are deceiving as well since February didn't seem all that cold to me.  It's easy to look at the departure maps and make broad conclusions but it doesn't always work out that way.  A lot of peoples cold and snow forecast verified for me even though we didn't have wall to wall cold and snow.  Years from now people will look at our snow totals and departures and not realize how agonizing it was until late February for snow lovers.

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umm, I dont think its too much to ask to at least get a dusting of snow. Heck, Dallas has had like 5 winter storms this year and Atlanta averages more snow than them. I dont think its too much to expect a dusting of snow in a winter with so much cold around. Is Atlanta the only major city in the US that got 0% of its annual snow/sleet this winter ? Obviously next winter can only be better.

I'm sure there have been plenty of years where Dallas had no snow while Atlanta did.  I think a look at the airports records (not the suburbs) shows plenty of shutout years that are offset by the good years.  That said, I am with you.  I expect at least an inch or two and can count on one hand how many shutout years I've had in the past few decades.  

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I'll go with a C, barely.  One decent 5" event saved it from an F.  Dustings and a half inch of slop subtract points on my scale.  A heavy frost is more photogenic.  So does extended well below normal temps with no precip.  Sue me, I'm old.

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I'm sure there have been plenty of years where Dallas had no snow while Atlanta did. I think a look at the airports records (not the suburbs) shows plenty of shutout years that are offset by the good years. That said, I am with you. I expect at least an inch or two and can count on one hand how many shutout years I've had in the past few decades.

in terms of snow I've had 6 shutout years in the last 11 winters. They are: 04-05, 05-06, 06-07, 11-12, 12-13, 14-15. The 5 years I did get snow I had a total of 12.5". So I'm running close to an inch below normal for snowfall in the last 11 years.
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Is this a joke? I didn't have a winter.

lol me neither. And I can't even get any of this "surprise" snow that people have been talking about today. It just gets worse and worse. I'm sure in about 2 weeks there will be a surprise snowstorm that lays down a foot of snow 10 miles north of me while I stay dry. That wouldn't surprise me actually.
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c- for me.  the mtns normally even in Asheville do better than this, with all the cold air we had and really during that time frame nothing to show for it.  wasted a lot of cold air that could have produced lots of snow.  no where close to enough snow,  I know we're not completely done yet but we are close.

Yep, I voted a C- as well. If it wasn't for the 5-6 inches we got in Feb, it would have been a failing grade. The over-hyped -AO / -NAO didn't work out too well either. Granted, we could still eek out another event, but it is not looking too good at this point.

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