LibertyBell

and also more extensive in terms of coverage too? Was that a weak el nino or weak la nina? I don't remember, but I do know we had two big snowstorms that winter and a couple of moderate ones too.

1895-96 was the one with the greatest March on record for snowfall wasn't it? Nothing in December and only 3" in January, that must have been the greatest backloaded winter on record to get to 46" on the season lol.

Feb 2016 had some very cold days (below zero) and snowfall opportunities, and big snowfall east of Manhattan

but 1966-67 which was one of our best winters, did not, right Don? I would love to see a repeat of that winter

Maybe not so fast. The last two springs have been warm and dry. I think going from el nino to la nina we will roast and likely be dry too. Of course dry is relative in our current climate, but hopefully we wont be getting more than an inch of rain per week.

How does this compare with the Texas cold shot from a few years ago, Don? That was our last nice winter for snowfall too.

Well we have had warm and thankfully dry springs the last 2 years, so let's see if we can do a threepeat.

you have clearly lost your mind, outside of winter, there doesn't need to be anything but sunny weather with low humidity. It can rain once a week, but only at night.

omg forget 1995-96, 2010-11, and whatever else winter any of us have ever experienced, the above is the greatest winter of all time and there is no question in my mind that there was over 100" of snow areawide!

I remember reading about this-- this may have been the coldest winter on record for the northeast! I wonder how much snow fell? 100" here? 1780 - The coldest day of the coldest month of record in the northeastern U.S. A British Army thermometer in New York City registered a reading of 16 degrees below zero. During that infamous hard winter the harbor was frozen solid for five weeks, and the port was cut off from sea supply. (David Ludlum)

I was so glad to get my first and only 30"+ snowstorm before the pattern went to hell.

Based on statistics alone it's very difficult not to get at least a light to moderate event in February, regardless of the pattern. I'd say at least one 2-4 inch event.

what happened to the late February period everyone was talking about? it's very rare not to get at least a light to moderate event in February no matter how mild the month is overall. what are the odds of not getting at least a 2-4" event in the entire month of February? I would have to say not more than 20%?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/14/solar-max-sun-activity-storms-aurora/ The solar maximum extends from January through October and has been ramping up since last year.

How much do you think the recent solar maximum has to do with this Chris? The sun is an extremely active phase of its long term cycle (the solar maximum extends from 2023 through the first half of 2024). https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/14/solar-max-sun-activity-storms-aurora/

that map says 46 degrees though? that's not extremely warm at all

we need to declare war on the Pacific Ocean and start dumping liquid helium into it (as well as into the Atlantic)

Maybe most of SE Asia! How much more powerful would it have been than the tsunami that hit SE Asia on Christmas Eve 2004? That killed hundreds of thousands of people! Can energy release of different types be compared?

This is all fascinating stuff and the idea that impact events can stimulate volcano formation! I have heard about the Australia event is that the one that might have created a genetic bottleneck? I thought it was in New Zealand but it could be either. It supposedly wiped out 10% of the hominids alive at that time and created the largest volcanic eruption we know of on this planet?

it slowly got less and less lol 2002-03 was my favorite and top winter of the decade with the biggest snowstorm (the only 2 foot storm here) and an april snowstorm too! and 2003-04 was very good, very cold with the earliest blizzard we have ever had followed by the famous pink snow snowstorm in January, 2004-05 was a little less than that and 2005-06 was only an average winter here because we only got a little over a foot in the blizzard, the april snowfall that year actually had higher rates here even though only 2" fell.

Oh, you must mean the 1821 Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane which made landfall near Cape May, NJ as a Cat 4 and went due north and hit Manhattan as a Cat 3, the only major hurricane to ever make landfall in NYC. It came in at low tide (but still had a very high surge.)

Yep, at our latitude the westerlies usually speed them up. 1815 was Tambora and the first Year Without a Summer. There was a hurricane in 1804 that sliced through Central Long Island and up the CT River Valley in early October and it was so cold that we changed to sleet on the backside with temps in the mid 30s. It was a Cat 2 at landfall. Rated as F2 prior to the SS scale because back then tornadoes and hurricanes were rated on the same scale. The hurricane you're talking about was probably the Great Massachusetts Bay Colony hurricane which may have been a Cat 4 at landfall (or at least Cat 3.5-- which is 130 MPH) which hit in the late 1700s (I forget the exact year.) That Pre Columbian hurricane speculation about the 1400s is that it was either a really big hurricane or a megatsunami (which could either happen from a big earthquake near the Canary Is. or the impact of an asteroid. The latter has already happened; Chesapeake Bay was created from an impact, the asteroid split in two parts and the second part fell into the ocean just east of Toms River.)

question-- why did you go there? lol

In spite of all this, the NYC-Long Island-NJ area was hit by a megahurricane sometime in the 1400s in the "pre Columbian era."

There is a way to get some idea of what it might be like. I'm borrowing the idea that during a total solar eclipse, just before totality, we get to see what the sun would look like from Pluto in terms of incoming light.... So, the ice sheets made it down as far as NYC and Long Island at their furthest extent southward. This means the mean temperature for the year was around 32F (0C). Now just go north along the north american east coast until you hit the place that has an average annual temperature around that mark and see what kind of snowfall they have and you'll have an approximate idea of what it would have been like around here. You'll probably need to go to Greenland (or maybe northern Newfoundland) to find it.