LibertyBell

Interesting thing is that January now has more snowfall than it used to. I remember Januarys used to be mostly cold and dry throughout the 80s except for a couple of exceptions. There was a time when a 20" snowstorm in January was almost nonexistent-- that has changed.

I remember Don posted some stats-- it was for la ninas and less than 3" of snow in December though For el nino it's different as we've had a few bad Decembers which had great backloaded winters (1977-78 being a prime example.) Another one was 2014-15 (I think that was a neutral phase though.)

At least we got that quarter to half inch of snow. It'll be funny if that's all we get this month and then we get a big snowstorm in the first week of January.

December isn't a winter month for us anymore (for the most part) so I think we have to treat January as the new December. We basically have two month winters (January and February) so that's where we need to cash in. Sometimes March does well too-- more often than December does.

It was fine in 2017-18 and many other la nina winters though. It's not so much about that anymore as it is that warm pool.

Yeah 2017-18 being a case in point.

How did we do in December 2017? I remember that as a backloaded winter-- our first snow was actually in January 2018 that season from what I remember.

This may not be the pattern to get that. You may need the pattern to completely break down and rebuild a new and better block. I don't buy the December stuff as anything but coincidence, because the weather doesn't recognize "months" I would rather put my eggs in the two months which are most favored to get big snows and that's January and February. December isn't even a winter month here anymore.

That's a good point too. Not only does the weather not recognize "months"we have to be careful in basing statistical correlations on single spots-- Central Park is just a point-- places not very far from it have seen significant snow.

This never really had the time or the chance to develop into the kind of hysteria you get with "mega storm" possibilities. Could you imagine a March 2001 kind of bust around Christmas? Omg

Thats awesome Cape May gets 16" and Philly and Boston get 10" and NYC gets less than any of them.

or an el nino for that matter. We have to stop thinking of enso having that much governance over our weather. That warm pool in the Atlantic s actually more responsible for it.

I think this is just statistical coincidence, the weather doesn't recognize "months"-- it could just as easily snow in the first week of January and the weather wouldn't recognize any difference from it being December.

Why is that any way? If the Pacific is so influential in our weather and December has the highest chance of sucking because of a bad Pacific and La Nina's usually feature a bad Pacific, wouldn't it make sense that January and February are much more important because they are less sensitive to a bad Pacific? What exactly would keep it from being much better in January and February when we are favored to have much higher chances of snow and the SST are much colder?

GFS did the best both with track and with strength. Note-- the Euro was WAY too strong and also the farthest west.

NYC: 26" EWR: 28" MMU: 35" ISP: 29" SWF: 44" I'm going to go with an 80s type winter so lot's of 20s" or thereabouts along the coast.

Thanks so much Walt! Looks like 7.4" was the max at Mt Pocono.....it's still snowing in the Poconos isn't it? Would you post a final total from there once the storm ends completely? I think they're expecting another 3-5"? It's also fascinating to see the difference with only 4" around I-80 in NE PA and 7.4" at MPO just slightly to the north (and much higher elevation). And only around 3" around Lehighton! I think it's still snowing there though so maybe they'll get up to around 6" there? I guess when the final totals come out we'll know.

2002-03 was a very underrated winter in which almost everyone did well and there was a snowstorm that hit just about everyone from the midatlantic to the northeast.

Maybe not though. This kind of extreme block is a good sign going forward to better blocking in the meat of winter-- January and February. Perhaps this blocking needs to break down for a better and stronger block to come along.

I'm not sure anyone knows. I'm of the same inclination as you are, that we get much better chances in January and February. That's partly based on climo and partly based on this particular block breaking down and a better one emerging later in the season. Sometimes you have to completely break something down to get something better.

I have a little fly in the logic ;-) What if this IS the pattern haha?

Interesting-- is that good or bad? Normally when you get the coldest temperatures over us the storm track is too suppressed.

I bet there is a Mt Pocono like elevaton around there where someone averages 70 inches lol. Maybe up near Monticello? That's right near the edge of our subforum.

Better safe than sorry. Even in the city there was a major accident on the Major Deegan.

Those are some fascinating gradients. I wonder if there's any kind of storm where everyone does well with snowfall?